
Gass F f ^ •?■ 
Book ::_ 



■ r^d 




Penn's interview witii Charles I, 



THE LIFE 

OF 

WILLIAM PENN, 

WITH A SKETCH 

OP 

THE EARLY HISTORY 

OP 

PENNSYLVANIA. 
BY JOHN FROSTe 




PHILADELPHIA: 

OBKIK BOG EH 

1839 ^' 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 
1839, by 



John Frost, 



in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of tfee East- 
ern District of Pennsylvania. 



J 



Jesper Harding, Printer. 



PREFACE. 



The following Memoir is chiefly taken from 
^n anonymous work published in London se- 
veral years since. For the alterations and 
additions made by myself, 1 have relied prin- 
cipally on the authority of Graham and Proud. 
The Sketch of the Early History of Penn- 
sylvania, is part of a work commenced some 
years since for the use of schools, but never 
completed. I thought that it would make an 
appropriate introduction to the life of the great 
Founder of Pennsylvania, as it furnishes the 
reader with the leading facts in the history of 
the State antecedent to the arrival of Penn ; 
and brings the narrative down to the period 
of that important and auspicious event. 



A* 



COIVTENTS. 



HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

CHAPTER I. 

The different Nations who founded Colonies in North Ame- 
rica. . . . . * Page 1 

CHAPTER n. 
Early Settlements on Delaware Bay and River. . 4 

CHAPTER III. 

How William Penn first came to take an interest in Ameri- 
can affairs. . . . ,8 

CHAPTER IV. 

Settlements of the Friends in New Jersey and Pennsylvania 
previous to Penn obtaining his Charter. . 14 

LIFE OF PENN. 

CHAPTER I. 

Birth and Parentage of William Penn — He is sent to school 
at Chigwell — Early religious impressions — He is remov- 
ed to a private seminary on Tower HUl — Enters Christ's 
Church College at Oxford — Imbibes the opinions of Tho- 
mas Loe-Is expelled from College — Trave Is in France— 



VIII CONTENTTS. 

Is instructed by Moses Amyrault— Visits Italy—Returns 
to England. . , . . . 1^ 

CHAPTER 11. 

Penn's religious impressions continue— He is sent bv his 

fether to Ireland to the court of the Duke of Ormond 

Goes to superintend his father's estates in the county of 
P°S~?^^-®t^ ^^^]^ ^i* Thomas Loe— Attaches himself 
to the Society of Quakers or Friends— Imprisoned for at- 
tending one of their meetings— Released by the Earl of Or- 
rery— Returns to his father— Controversy respecting the 
hat— .-Dismissed from his father's house—Becomes a 
preacher and an author. • ... 25' 

CHAPTER III. 

Principles of the Quakers— Controversy with the Presbyte- 
rians— Wm. Penn publishes "The Sandy Foundation Sha- 
ken; and IS consequently imprisoned in the Tower of 
London— Writes "No Cross, No Crown," during his im- 
prisonment—Character of that work— Penn writes to Lord 
Arlington— Substance of the letter— It is disregarded— 
fenn publishes " Innocency with her open face"— Is re- 

i leased from his imprisonment by the king. . 30 

CHAPTER IV. 

Wm. Perin attends at the death-bed of Thomas Loe— Loe's ex- 
hortation— Penri's father permits him to return to his 
house— Sends him to Ireland on business— he preaches 
tbere returns to England, and is completely reconciled 
tohis father— Passage of the Conventicle act— Its charac- 
ter— Penn preaches in Gracechurch street — Penn and 
WUJiam Meade are sent to Newgate prison— Their trial 
Th"?^ -n?- f ^^^ Old Bailey-The^ justices-The jury- 
?i^.H''V'^'''^™^''^~P¥— P^'soners placed at the bar— 
?lntl L^^^r^^u^^-^"' hats— Witnesses examined— 
.r^^J^r j}i?T^ *° ^^^ judges— Penn's memorable contro- 
nfth^o Y^?!^ recorder— His appeal to the jury— Attempts 
h rv Sn° intimidate the jury~Penn's defence of the 
ffi7.7" T^^'f %J"^.y andof Penn— Verdict of "Not 
Suh 7hp ^tu>-ned--The jury fined— Penn's controversy 
S,fP ^nil^'^T^?"'' ^-"^ ^^^^e areagainsenttoNew- 
fhlftEi J}~^T^V,'^^'y imprisoned— Admiral Penn pays 
Ihe'ir^hSvaHolJ:"^-''"" '"' ^"^- ^--^e-^nd proc^ures 



CONTENTS. IX 



CHAPTER V. 



Admiral Penn's last advice to his son — His death — Wm. 
Penn goes to Oxford — His letter to the Vice Chancellor — 
Wra. Penn retires to his family seat in Buckinghamshire 
— Writes 'A Seasonable Caveat against Popery' — Returns 
to London — Imprisoned again in the Tower of London for 
preaching — Taken before the justices— Refuses to take an 
oath—Nobly repels an attack on his moral character — Is 
imprisoned for refusing the oath. . . 51 

CHAPTER VL 

Works written by Penn during his imprisonment — He is 
liberated, and travels and preaches in Germany — He is 
married — Preaches in England — Publishes several new 
works. . . . . . . .59 



CHAPTER VII. 

Penn preaches in the West of England — His controversy 
with Thomas Hicks — Meeting at Barbican — Penn's letter 
to George Fox — His controversy with John Faldo— Dr. 
Moore's encomium on Penn's works. . . 64 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Wm. Penn's appeal on the subject of toleration — His letter 
to the King — Persecutions — Wm. Penn's tract entitled 
" England's Present Interest" — His work entitled " The 
continued cry of the oppressed for justice" — His exer- 
tions in behalf of George Fox — His letter to Fox — Fox's 
release. . . . ... 75 

CHAPTER IX. 

Penn's controversy with Richard Baxter — His letter to Bax- 
ter — His letters to Fenwick — He writes to Elizabeth 
Princess Palatine of the Rhine — Penn becomes a mana- 
ger of the colonial concerns in New Jersey — Division of 
New Jersey — He forms a constitution for the colony — 
Outline of the constitution — Settlers invited. . 84 



CHAPTER X. 
Proposals opened for the sale of lands in West New Jersey — 



CONTENTS. 

Arrangement with Byllinge's creditors — The Commission- 
ers appointed — They embark for America — They receive 
the King's blessing — Penn receives a letter from the 
Princess Elizabeth — Penn visits Holland — He writes to 
the King of Poland — He visits the Princess Elizabeth — 
His success in preaching — He visits many German cities 
— Labodie and his followers — Anna Maria Schurmans — 
Penn's second visit to the Princess — Returns to Amster- 
dam— Controversy with Abrahams — Penn's preaching at 
Wonderwick — Embarks at the Brill — Returns to Lon- 
don, and thence to his seat at Worminghurst. 93 



CHAPTER XI. 

Penn despatches 800 settlers for New Jersey — The Popish 
Plot — Persecutions of the Dissenters — Penn's petition to 
the House of Commons — He addresses the members — It 
is well received — His second Address — The desired bill 
passes the Commons — Penn's tract, entitled England's 
Great Interest in the choice of a New Parhament — ^Penn's 
exertions in behalf of Algernon Sydney. . 106 



CHAPTER XII. 

Peath of the Princess Elizabeth — Penn's claims on the Bri- 
tish Government on account of his father's services and ex- 
penditures—The petition for a grant of territory in Ameri- 
ca — His motive for this proceeding— He obtains a charter 
tor Pennsylvania— Substance of the charter — Penn rehn- 
quishes the management of West New Jersey — Situation 
of the colony — Penn publishes his " Account of Pennsyl- 
vania," and the "Concessions" — Account of the "Conces- 
sions" — Penn's "Frame of Government"— It secures liber- 
ty of conscience — Settlers sent out to Pennsylvania with 
Colonel Markham— Penn's letter to Robert Vickris. 131 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Death of Penn's mother — He pubhshes his " frame of go- 
vernment" — Preface of this instrument — Its chief pro- 
visions — Penn obtains a deed of release tor Pennsylvania 
from the Duke of York — He obtains the tract of land call- 
ed the Territories, (Delaware) — Penn's letter to his wife 
and children — His interview and conversation with king 
Charles II. . . . . , 131 



CONTENTS. XI 



CHAPTER XIV. 



Penn sails from Deal — Lands at Newcastle — Is joyfully re- 
ceived — Takes legal possession of the country — Addresses 
the magistrates — Renews their commissions — Proceeds to 
Upland — First General Assembly — The Assembly passes 
the Act of Union and the Act of Settlement — Character 
of its other Acfs — Penn's interview with Lord Balti- 
more — Penn's Treaty with the Indians— He lays out 
the plan of Philadelphia — Arrival of two thousand set- 
tlers — Wm. Penn's arrangements for the internal go- 
vernment of the colony — He meets the Council and ihe 
Assembly — Charter amended — Penn journeys through 
the province — Appoints a provinciEil council — Thomas 
Loyd president — Penn sails for England, after declining 
an impost intended for his own benefit — Arrives in Eng- 
land and has an interview with the King and the Duke 
of York. ..... 152 



CHAPTER XV. 

Death of Charles II — Accession of James II — Friendship 
subsisting between Penn and James II — Passage from 
Gerard Croesse — Penn's successful intercession for John 
Locke — Penn is suspected of being a Papist — His letter 
to Doctor TiUotson — Tillotson's apology — Penn's success- 
ful appeal in behalf of the Dissenters — Unsatisfactory ac- 
counts from the Province — Penn appoints a new Coun- 
cil — Accession of William Prince of Orange to the throne 
of England — Unpleasant situation of Penn — He is exam- 
ined before the Lords of the Council — Is discharged — Act 
of Toleration passed — Penn is ae:ain arrested and brought 
before the Lords of the Councir~His examination — He 
is again discharged — Proposes to embark for America — 
Is again arrested — Takes private lodgings in London — 
Is deprived of his government of Pennsylvania — His noble 
conduct under this reverse— His government restored— 
Death of William Penn's wife — Penn's second marriage — 
Death of his son Springett Penn — Visit to Ireland — Second 
\ oyage to America — Arrival — Treaty with the Indians— 
Penn recalled to England by the state of affairs — He 
grants his last charter to the Province — Returns to Eng- 
land — Death of William III — Accession of Queen Anne 
— His favour at court — Literary pursuits — Penn's law- 
suit with Ford — He is a prisoner in the Fleet—He mort- 
gages the Province of Pennsylvania— He is released and 
restored to his family— His health fails—He offers to sell 
his province to the British government. , 166 



XII 



COIVTENTS. 
CHAPTER XVI. 



Gradual decay of Penn's health— His death--His Funeral— 
His Will--Comparativevalueof his European and Ameri- 
can possessions — Penn's character . . 196 

. . . . .201 



Questions. 

Constitution of Pennsylvania. 



209 




SKETCH 

OF THE 

EARLY HISTORY 

OF 

PENNSYLVANIA.. 



CHAPTER 1. 

The different Nations who founded Colonies in North 
America. 

In order to settle clearly in the minds of 
young readers the period at which our narra- 
tive commences, we mention certain other im- 
portant dates in American history, to be com- 
pared with that of the settlement of Pennsyl- 
vania. Such dates serve as land-marks from 
which to take our departure in beginning the 
course of our story ; and they are important 
to be remembered. 

The discovery of the New World was ef- 
fected by Columbus in the year 1492. The 

1 



Z HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

first land which he reached was one of the Ba- 
hama islands. He was in the service of the 
king of Spain, and hence it happened that a 
considerable portion, both of North and South 
America, were for a long period afterwards 
under the dominion of Spain; although none 
of these extensive territories, now belong to 
Spain, excepting two of the West India Islands, 
Cuba and Porto Rico. 

The continent of America was discovered 
by John and Sebastian Cabot, June 24th, 1797. 
The part of the coast which they first reached 
was Labrador. They were in the service of 
England; and with their voyage commenced 
a series of discoveries and settlements which 
made our country the seat of numerous Eng- 
lish colonies, of which Pennsylvania was one. 

The earliest permanent settlement made in 
the territory which now belongs to the United 
States, was effected by the Spaniards under 
Pedro Melendez at St. Augustine, in Florida, 
on the 8th of September, 1565. St. Augustine 
must, therefore, be considered the oldest town 
in the United States. 

The next settlement was made by an Eng- 
lish colony headed by the famous Captain John 
Smith, at Jamestown, in Virginia, May, loth, 
1607. This was the earliest English settle- 
ment in our country. 

The French were also early settlers in North 



HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA, S 

i^merica. An expedition from France under the 
command of Samuel Champlain, founded Que- 
bec on July 3d, 1608. The lake which lies be- 
tween Vermont and New York received its 
name from this adventurer; and the settlement 
which he effected gave to his countrymen the 
possession of Canada until it was wrested from 
them by the English. 




Hudson sailing up the Hudson Eiver. 



The Dutch under Henry Hudson sailed up 
the Hudson River in 1609, and began the 
settlement of the province of New York, 
which they called New Netherlands, in 1614. 

The Swedes landed at Cape Henlopen, in 
1638, and began the settlement of Delaware, 
and what is now called Pennsylvania. Hoer- 



4 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

kill, now called Lewistown, Wilmington, Ches- 
ter and Manayunk, were amongst the first 
places settled by them. The settlements of 
the Dutch and Swedes were soon after brought 
under the dominion of England, (1664); the 
Dutch and Swedish colonists mingled with the 
English; and their descendants still remain 
among us. 

Thus it appears that North America was ori- 
ginally colonized by several different nations, 
a.i different periods; and although the greater 
part of their colonies were speedily united 
under the British Government, we are never- 
theless indebted to all these nations for the 
settlement of the territory, as well as for sub- 
sequent emigrations which have increased its 
population and wealth. 



CHAPTER II. 

Early Settlements on Delaware Bay and River. 

The first explorer of Delaware bay and 
river was Captain May, who, as early as the 
year 1621, sailed up the river as far as Glou- 
cester Point, in New Jersey, not far below the 
place where Philadelphia now is, where, with 
other settlers, he formed a village, and built 
Fort Nassau for its defence. 



HISTORY or PENNSYLVANIA. 5 

It was from this Captain May, that Cape 
May received its name. These Dutch set- 
tlers at Gloucester Point came from the 
neighboring colony of New York. The Dutch 
also formed a colony at New Castle, in Dela- 
ware, near Cape Henlopen, in 16S0. This 
little settlement, to which they gave the name 
of Svvaenendael, was soon destroyed by the 
Indians. The Dutch navigator De Vries af- 
terwards attempted to restore this colony, but 
without success. 




The Building of Fort Nassau. 

r 

During the year 1688, according to Mr. 
Gordon's history, the Swedes visited Cape 
Henlopen, which they named Paradise Point, 

1* 



6 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

and began their settlements on the Delaware 
bay and river. In that year they built a 
town which they called Stockholm, in the 
place where New Castle now is, and began 
the settlement of Wilmington, which they 
named Christianna. 

At the Island of Tenecum, in the Delaware, 
a few miles below Philadelphia, a settlement 
was made by John Printz, who had been ap- 
pointed governor of the Swedish colony on the 
Delaware. On this island he built a fort 
which they called New Gottenburgh, and 
erected some houses, a church, and the go- 
vernor's house, to which they gave the name 
of Printz's hall. 

Many other places within the present state 
of Pennsylvania, as well as in Delaware, were 
settled originally by the Swedes. Among 
them Watson enumerates, Mocoponaca, the 
present town of Chester, Manaiung, a fort at 
the mouth of the Schuylkill, Chincessing, now 
Kingsessing township, Korsholm fort in Pas- 
saiung, and many other places in the imme- 
diate neighborhood. 

The Dutch colonists of New York appear 
to have regarded the Swedes as rivals and 
intruders from the beginning. They built a 
fort which they called fort Kasimer, at New 
Castle, in 1651, in spite of the remonstrances 
of the Swedes who settled there, and of their 



HISTORY OP PENNSYLVANIA. 7 

governor Printz, who solemnly protested 
against what he considered an invasion of his 
rights. This fort was afterwards taken by a 
stratagem of the Swedish commander Risingh. 

But the Swedes were not destined to re- 
tain the country as a colony of Sweden. In 
1655, Peter Stuyvesant, the Dutch governor 
of New Netherlands, embarked from New 
Amsterdam* with 6 vessels and 700 men, for 
the purpose of conquering New Sweden, as 
the Swedes called their territory, and suc- 
ceeded without much resistance in reducing 
the whole country. He then destroyed tlie 
fortifications and public buildings, and carried 
off the most distinguished among the colonists, 
leaving only the common people, who were 
mingled without distinction among their con- 
querors and the subsequent settlers. 

The triumph of the Dutch, however, was 
destined to be short. In 1664 King Charles 
1]. of England, without any regard to the cir- 
cumstance of its being already settled by the 
Dutch, thought proper to grant all the large 
territory, not only of New Holland hut New 
Sweden, to his brother the Duke of York; and 
the country was taken possession of by an ex- 
pedition of three ships and six hundred men, 
under the command of Col. Richard Nichols. 

* Now New York. 



8 HISTORY OF PENJVSYLVANIA. 

New Amsterdam was thenceforth called New 
York, in honor of the Duke. New Jersey 
was included in the king's grant to the Duke, 
who afterwards possessed himself of the west 
shore of the Delaware, and claimed Pennsyl- 
vania also. 

Although the country which was afterwards 
granted to William Penn by King Charles II., 
is spoken of in the charter as not yet culti- 
vated and planted ; yet we see that a small 
portion was actually settled by the Swedes, 
and afterwards passed successively into the 
hands of the Dutch and the English long be- 
fore the effective and permanent settlement 
by Penn was made. 



CHAPTER III. 

How William Penn first came to take an interest in Ameri- 
can Affairs. 

After the occupation of New York by the 
English colonel, Nichols was appointed Gover- 
nor by the Duke of York, and that province 
as well as the other settlements on Delaware 
bay and river, were governed by him for near- 
ly three years, with a degree of wisdom and 
impartiality which gained for him the appro- 
bation of all parties. He regulated the mode 



HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. U 

of purchasing land of the Indians, and requir- 
ed a regular registry of their deeds to the 
settlers, He also incorporated the city of New 
York, and settled the boundary between New 
York and Connecticut. 

He was succeeded by Colonel Francis Love- 
lace in May, 1667. Governor Lovelace be- 
gan his administration by requiring that grants 
of land, upon the Delaware, which had been 
made by the Dutch, should be renewed ; and 
that new grants should all proceed from the 
English authorities. A Swedish adventurer 
called the Long Finne, endeavoured^to excite 
a rebellion against the English authority, and 
to restore his countrymen to the sovereignty 
of their beloved New Sweden. He' gained 
some adherents; but after a short time he was 
arrested, tried and sentenced to death ; but 
his sentence was subsequently changed and 
he was whipped, branded with the letter R. 
on his breast, and transported to Barbadoes, 
and sold as a slave for four years. This se- 
vere punishment, and the fines imposed on 
his adherents, prevented further disturbance 
from that quarter. 

The Indians gave some trouble to the Eng- 
lish during the administration of Governor 
Lovelace. Murders were committed by them 
which the Indians themselves ascribed to the 
use of ardent spirits,and begged the white peo- 



10 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

pie to prohibit the sale of them. This remark- 
able request by the Indians seems to have 
been disregarded, and further disturbance was 
the consequence- 
One anecdote, related by Mr. Gordon in 
this connection, is so strikingly illustrative of 
the Indian character that we quote it. 

An Indian named Tashiowycan, having lost 
a beloved sister by death, expressed great grief, 
and declared " that the Mannetto * having 
killed his sister, he would go and kill the Chris- 
tians." Accordingly taking with him a com- 
panion, he proceeded to an island in the Dela- 
ware below Bordentown, now known as New- 
hold's Island, and murdered two Dutchmen 
who were resident there. 

Governor Lovelace demanded the murder- 
ers, and their surrender was promised, but 
delayed. Preparations were made for an 
Indian war ; and the Indians who were friend- 
ly to the whites were invited to join them in 
punishing the aggressors. Fortunately the 
hostile Indians engaged to deliver up the 
murderers before the commencement of ac- 
tual hostilities. 

They came to the wigwam of Tashiowycan 
by night. He asked one of them, who was his 
particular friend, if he intended to kill him ? 

•The Great Spirit, or God. 



HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



11 



His friend replied '^No; but the sachems have 
ordered you to die." <' What," returned 
Tashiowycan, ''say my brothers?" ''They 
also say you must die;" was the response. 




The Death of Tashiowycan. 

"Then," cried he, holding his hands before his 
eyes, "kill me." Instantly one of the execu- 
tioners, not his friend, however, shot him 
through the body with two balls, and com- 
pleted his death by several strokes of the 
tomahawk on the head. His body was taken 
to Newcastle, and there hung in chains. Thus 
died Tashiowycan, a voluntary sacrifice to 
preserve his countrymen from the calamities 
of war. The other Indian who had assisted 



12 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

him in killing the white men, saved himself by 
flight ; but he had not been able to persuade 
Tashiovvycan to accompany him. 

A part of the country on Delaware bay had 
been claimed by Lord Baltimore, the proprie- 
tor of Maryland; and during the administra- 
tion of Governor Lovelace, the Marylanders 
took possession of Hoarkill, from which, how- 
ever, they were speedily dislodged. 

In 1673, Charles 11. having declared war 
with the Dutch, that nation sent an expedi- 
tion under the command of Cornelius Evertse 
and Jacob Benke, who recaptured New York 
without opposition. The treachery of Cap- 
tain Manning,who commanded the fort at the 
Narrows, is assigned as the cause of this easy 
victory. He was tried and cashiered for the 
offence. The country was soon after restor- 
ed to the English by treaty. 

After the recovery of the provinces, a new 
patent was granted to the Duke of York by 
the king. Sir Edmund Andross was made 
Governor, and received the surrender of the 
territories from the Dutch. 

During Governor Andross's administration 
(25th September, 1675) the dominion of the 
Duke of York was extended by purchase over 
all the west shore of the Delaware^ then set- 
tled by Europeans. 

On the 24th of June, 1664, the province of 



HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. io 

New Jersey was granted by the Duke of York 
to John, Lord Berkeley, and Sir George Car- 
teret, who immediately proceeded to establish 
a regular government for the country. Set- 
tlers increased rapidly in this pleasant and fer- 
tile region; and Elizabethtown, Newark, 
Middletown and Shrewsbury were soon set- 
tled. 

In 1675 Lord Berkeley sold his half of the 
province of New Jersey to John Fenwicke, in 
trust for Edward Byllinge. These gentlemen 
were both members of the society of Friends. 
At the close of the year, Fenwicke sailed for 
the bay of Delaware, and with his family and 
dependants, who of course were Friends, 
formed a settlement at Salem, a place in New 
Jersey situated on the Delaware river. 

Governor Andross disputed the proprietary 
rights of Fenwicke, who was arrested and 
carried to New York twice by the Governor's 
orders. But he was not prevented by these 
arbitrary acts from continuing his operations as 
a proprietor. 

Edward Byllinge, the Friend who had pur- 
chased New Jersey from the Duke of York, 
being involved in debt, assigned his property, 
in that province, to William Penn, Gawen 
Lawrie and Nicholas Lucas, in trust for his 
creditors. These trustees made a division of 
the province with Sir George Carteret, and 



14 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

took the western portion of the province 
which they called West New Jersey. The 
first governor of this province was Edward 
Byllinge, and the first assembly for enacting 
laws was called by his deputy, Jennings, No- 
vember, 1681. 

The cursory account of leading events in 
the history of New York and New Jersey, 
which we have just given, was deemed neces- 
sary in order to make the reader acquainted 
with the train of circumstances by which 
William Penn, the real founder of our state> 
was first made acquainted with the country, 
and led to take an earnest, and lively interest^ 
in its concerns. His being appointed one of 
the trustees of Edward i3yllinge, although it 
may seem a trifling circumstance, was attend- 
ed with results of the utmost importance to 
Pennsvlvania. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Settlements of the Priendis in New Jersey and Pennsylvania 
previous to Penn's obtaining his Charter. 

In consequence of being appointed one of 
the trustees of Edward Byllinge, William Penn 
became one of the chief instruments in set- 
tling West New Jersey, and thereby acquired 



HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 15 

considerable knowledge of the neighboring 
country of Pennsylvania, before it received 
that name, or was assigned to him. It appears 
that he took a very active part in making 
known to the Society of Friends in England 
the advantages otFered to settlers in East and 
West New Jersey, and that in consequence of 
his representations many parties of his breth- 
ren came out, purchased lands, and built 
towns and villages. These were chiefly on 
the Eastern shore of the Delaware river. 
The settlement of Salem has been already 
noticed. Burlington was laid out in 1677.* 
The first inhabitants were a considerable 
number of respectable families from Fork- 
shire, and other places in England. Other 
settlers from Wicaco, the Swedes' settlement 
on the Delaware, came in the latter part of 
October of the same year ; and in consequence 
of the lateness of the season were obliged to 
erect a kind of wigwams, like those of the In- 
dians, for their accommodation during the 
winter. The Indians, who were very friendly, 
supplied them with corn and venison. 

In December 1678, the Shield, from Hull, 
in England, anchored off Burlington. This, 
says Proud, in his History of Pennsylvania, 
%vas the first ship that came so far up the 

* Proud's History, Vol. 1, p. 145. 



16 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

Delaware. Opposite to Coaquannock, the 
Indian name of the place where Philadelphia 
now stands, which was a bold and high shore, 
she went so near to it in turning, that part of 
the rigging struck the trees. Some of the 
passengers observed, " It was a fine situation 
for a town;" hardly supposing that it was to 
become the site of one of the largest cities in 
the w^estern world. 

The settlements of the Friends were not 
confined to the eastern shore of the Delaware. 
Upland, (now Chester, Pennsylvania.) was 
settled by them in 1675, and Kensington, and 
several other places on the w^estern shore, are 
noticedi by the historians as having been occu- 
pied hy them as well as by the remains of the 
Swedish, Dutch, and English settlers, to whose 
early possession of the soil we have already 
referred. 

Of these early settlements, previous to the 
grant of our State to William Penn, the no- 
tices in history are scanty and often contra- 
dictory. Little is known with certainty con- 
cerning the precise extent to which the coun- 
try was cleared and peopled. The inhabitants, 
however, were certainly few, and their little 
towns and hamlets widely scattered along the 
shore of the river and the contiguous country 
— a state of things which promised but a slow 
and uncertain growth to the colony, and but 



HISTORY OP PENNSYLVANIA. 17 

for the sagacity and energy of our great found- 
er, no doubt the country would have remained 
many years a comparative wilderness. He, 
however, was destined to give it a sudden and 
powerful impulse ; and to stamp the character 
of his own strength and wisdom upon the State 
he founded. 

From the moment when he was first con- 
cerned in the settlement of Edward Byllinge's 
estate, he appears to have taken the deepest 
interest in the affairs of the colonists, and it 
was not long before he became not only a 
trustee, but a direct proprietor in American 
lands. East Jersey w^as, by the last will of its 
proprietor. Sir George Carteret, ordered to 
be sold for the payment of his debts; and in 
February, 1681, William Penn with eleven 
other persons, became the purchasers. It 
was only one month afterwards that Penn ob- 
tained his famous charter of Pennsylvania 
from the king. 



2# 



THE LIFE 

OF 

WILLIAM PENN. 



CHAPTER I. 

Birth and parentage of William Penn — He is sent to school 
at Chigwell — Early religious impressions — He is remov- 
ed to a private seminary on Tower Hill — Enters Christ's 
Church College at Oxford — Imbibes the opinions of Tho- 
mas Loe—Is expelled from College — Travels in France. 
Is instructed by Moses Amyrault—Visits Italy — Returns 
to England. 

William Penn was born in London in the 
year 1644, and was descended from an ancient 
and respectable family in Buckinghamshire. 
His father, Admiral Penn, a brave and distin- 
guished officer, was intrusted when very young 
with the command of the fleet sent against 
Hispaniola by Oliver Cromwell ; and although 
unsuccessful, the failure of the expedition was 



20 THE LIFE OF 

not attributed to any misconduct of the Ad- 
miral's ; on the contrary, it was allowed by 
all, that as far as he was concerned, it was 
conducted with equal skill and gallantry ; the 
whole blame having been attached to colonel 
Venables, who commanded the land forces. — 
After the restoration of Charles the Second, 
he commanded under the Duke of York in the 
memorable naval engagement with the Dutch 
in 1665, and contributed so materially by his 
bravery to the success of that well-contested 
action, that he had the honour of knighthood 
conferred upon him by that Monarch. Hav- 
ing thus served both Parliament and King, he 
yet sided with neither during the civil commo- 
tions which then agitated his country ; bu~ 
applying himself to the discharge of his pro- 
fessional duties, which retained him at a dis 
tance from the scene of civil broil, he was 
enabled to serve his country without attach- 
ing himself to either of the parties of the day. 
As Wanstead, the then country residence 
of the Admiral, was contiguous to Chigwell in 
Essex, it was thought advisable that the sub- 
ject of the present memoir should receive the 
first rudiments of his education at an excel- 
lent free grammar school established there, 
some time previously, by Harsnett, archbishop 
of York. It was said of WilHam Penn, as some- 
thing remarkable is always said of the early 



WILLIAM PEN-N. 21 

lives of all great men, that during his stay- 
here, and while alone in his chamber, he was 
suddenly surprised with an inward grace, and 
observed, as he imagined, an external glory- 
in his room ; that he felt firmly impressed with 
the belief of the existence of a God, and the 
susceptibility of the immortal soul to hold 
converse with him : and that he had then re- 
ceived the seal of divinity, and been awakened 
or called to the exercise of a holy life. How- 
ever, be this as it may, it is certain that from 
this period his mind became seriously impress- 
ed on the subject of religion. 

Having been removed from Chigwell to a 
private seminary on Tower-hill, he made such 
rapid progress in his studies that he was con- 
sidered qualified for college at fifteen years of 
age; and was accordingly entered a gentleman 
commoner at Christ's Church, Oxford. Here 
he became intimate with Robert Spencer, af- 
terwards the earl of Sunderland, the cele- 
brated John Locke, and all those young men 
who were distinguished either for genius or 
ability. 

About this time the religious impressions 
which he imbibed at Chigwell were considera- 
bly strengthened by the preaching of Thomas 
Loe, a layman formerly of Oxford, but who 
had then embraced Quakerism ; and finding 
that the minds of several of his fellow students 



22 THE LIFE OF 

had, like bis own, received a new direction 
from the doctrines promulgated by Loe, and 
that their religious opinions were in unison 
with bis own, he commenced, in conjunction 
with them, to secede from the Church of Eng- 
land, and to meet together, when they wor- 
shipped their Creator according to their own 
way of thinldng. In consequence of this pro- 
ceeding, which gave great umbrage to the 
heads of the college, they were all lined for 
nonconformity. This, however, had not the 
desired effect; and an opportunity soon after 
occurred which enabled them to evince their 
determination to pursue their former practi- 
ces, and even to proceed farther where they 
considered themselves justified in so doing. — 
The King having thought proper to command 
that the surplice, which had been discontinued 
during the Revolution, should be resumed as 
formerly, his Majesty's will and pleasure on 
this head was accordingly signified to the Uni- 
versity of Oxford : and the sight of the surplice 
appeared to William Fenn, so repugnant to 
the primitive sim.plicity of Christianity, that 
he prevailed with several of his associates to 
join him in attacking such of the students as 
appeared in the obnoxious garb; the result of 
which was, that he and several of his compa- 
nions were expelled the college. 

In consequence of the public disgrace which 



WILIJAM PEN IV. 23 

William this incurred b}^ his expulsion from 
college, his father determined, in order to 
wean him from his former connexions, and in 
the hope that the gaiety of French manners 
might correct the growing gravity of his mind, 
to send him to France ; and he accordingly 
accompanied certain persons of rank to Paris. 
The only anecdote which is recorded of him, 
during his residence in the French capital, is, 
that being attacked in the street by a gentle- 
man, in consequence of a supposed affront, 
and having disarmed his opponent, after an 
obstinate contest, he yet spared his life, when, 
according to the testimony of all who relate 
the fact, he would have been justified by the 
laws of honour in taking it ; evincing, by this 
humane action, a proof not only of courage, 
but of forbearance. 

After leaving Paris he resided for some 
months at Saumur, during the years 1662 and 
1663, with his companions, and while he con- 
tinued there, availed himself of the conversa- 
tion and instruction of Moses Amyrault, a 
learned minister of the doctrines of Calvin, and 
enjoying at that time in France the highest 
repute as an eminent divine. He was honoured 
with the friendship of all the great men of 
every persuasion, and so highly esteemed by 
cardinal Richelieu, that he^imparted to him 



24 THE LIFE OF 

his design of uniting the followers of Calvin to» 
the Church of Rome. 

Under so celebrated a master, William! 
Penn applied himself to his studies with dili- 
gence and success ; especially the study of 
theology, and the French language. 

After leaving Saumur, he had proceeded 
as far as Turin^ on his route towards Italy^ 
when he received a letter from his father, in- 
forming him, that as be had been appointed' 
to the command of the Channel fleet, and as it 
would be necessary for his son to take charge 
of his family during his absence, he therefore 
wished him to return home ; in consequence 
of which William returned to England iB 
1664, having insensibly acquired, from the 
polished people among whom he resided, a 
more lively and courtly demeanour, although 
he had not retrograded, as indeed it was im- 
possible he could have done under the tuition 
of Moses Amyrault, in his regard and concern 
for religion. 

As it was deemed proper, on his return 
from abroad, that he should become acquainted 
with the laws of his own country, he was ac- 
cordingly entered as student at Lincoln's Inn ; 
where he remained until the breaking out of 
the great plague which ravaged London in 
1665. 



WrLLIAM PENN. 25 



CHAPTER TI. 

Penn's religious impressions continue — He is sent by his 
father to Ireland, to the court of the Duke of Ormond — 
Goes to superintend his father's estates in the county of 
Cork — Meets again with Thomas Loe — Attaches himself 
to the Society of Quakers or Friends — Imprisoned for at- 
tending one of their meetings — Released by the Earl of 
Orrery — Returns to his father — Controversy respecting 
the Hat — Dismissed from his father's house — Becomes a 
preacher and an author. 

Although William Penn had returned from 
the continent with the appearance of a change 
in his manners, yet it was only temporary, for 
in 1666 he resumed the sedate and reflective 
habits of his countrymen ; and the religious 
controversies then in vogue, together wdth va- 
rious concurrent circumstances, caused the 
latent spark, which was only smothered with- 
in him, to revive with its former force. He 
again assumed a serious deportment, and 
associated only with people of a grave and 
rehgious character ; and on the Admiral's re- 
turn from sea, the change was so obvious to 
him, owing to his long absence, that he again 
determined, if possible, to elTectan alteration 
in William's habits of life, and with this view 
sent him to Ireland, to the court of the duke 
of Ormond, celebrated for his graceful mien 
and brilliant wit, as well as for the gaiety and 

3 



26 THE LIFE OF 

splendour of his court But the pomp and 
luxury attendant on greatness, produced in 
the mind of William only contempt and dis- 
gust ; contempt at its vanity, and disgust at its 
licentiousness. 

Again frustrated in his endeavours to effect 
a change in the religious sentiments of his son, 
the Admiral resolved to send him, as a last 
resource, to superintend his estates in the 
county of Cork ; hoping at least, vv^hile he re- 
sided there, that he would be at a distance 
from his old associates, and as there would be 
ample employment for his time, that he might 
be gradually weaned from a course of life 
which, on reflection, he would perceive to be 
injurious to his temporal interests. But, such 
is the short-sightedness of mortals, that the 
very means employed to prevent a dreaded 
evil often produce it ! Having accidentally 
learnt that Thomas Loe, the layman of Ox- 
ford, was to preach at Cork to a meeting of 
Quakers, he could not deny himself the plea- 
sure of seeing and hearing the man whom he 
considered as his greatest human benefactor ; 
he accordingly attended, and the text — 
*' There is ajaith zvhich overcomes the worlds 
and there is a faith which is overcome by the 
world^^ made so deep an impression upon the 
mind of William Penn, and appeared so appli- '' . 
cable to his peculiar situation, that he attached 



WILLIAM PENI«-. 



27 



liimself henceforward to the Quakers or 
Friends as a religious body, and punctually 
attended their religious meetings. But he soon 
discovered that the ignorant prejudices of the 
times made the path he had adopted one of 
difficulty ; for when attending one of these 
meetings in September 1667, he was appre- 
hended, along with several others, and lodged 
in prison, on the plea of a proclamation issued 
against tumultuous assemblies. He was, how- 
ever, speedily released on appealing to the 
good sense and tolerant principles of the earl 
of Orrery, president of the council of Muns- 
ter, and pointing out to his Lordship that the 
proclamation did not extend to his case. His 
letter to the Earl was couched in manly and 
dignified terms. ^^ Rdigioii^^ says he, "which 
is at once my crime and mine innocence, makes 
me a prisoner to a Mayor's malice, but mine 
own free rnan^'^ &c. 

The Admiral, on being informed that his 
son had become a Quaker, immediately wrote 
to him to return home, and finding from his 
dereliction of the usages and customs of the 
world, and particularly the ceremony of the 
Hat, that there was no doubt of the fact, came 
to an explanation with William on the subject; 
but as the die was cast, as he had actually 
become a Quaker, the Admiral gave up all 
thoughts of altering the general views of his 



28 THE LIFE OF 

son, and only hoped to prevail upon him to 
forego certain peculiarities which appeared to 
he unconnected with conscience, and used 
merely as the distinguishing marks of a sect. 
He therefore informed him, that he would 
trouble him no more on the subject of his re- 
ligion, provided he would agree to keep his hat 
otf in his own presence, and that of the King 
and the Duke of York. But even to so ap- 
parently trivial a request William could not 
bring himself to consent, as he considered hat- 
worship at variance with the practice enjoined 
by Saint Paul, who directs his disciples to un- 
cover their heads only when they addressed 
their Maker, or promulgated his doctrines; 
and if the hat was taken otf to man, it would 
be paying to the creature the same outward 
honour which was paid to the Creator. He 
also considered the custom of taking off the 
hat contrary to the tenets of Christianity, which 
was satisfied but with the truth, as it led to 
frequent acts of dissimulation: now Christiani- 
ty forbade all false appearances, and taking 
off the hat olten evinced the appearance of 
an intention when no such intention existed in 
the mind. But even where the custom was 
intended to have a meaning, it generally was 
the sign of flattery and no man could stoop to 
flatter another, without at the same time de- 
basing himself, and unduly exalting the object 



WILLIAM PENN. 29 

of his adulation. Hence the early Quakers ap- 
plied to the custom the term of Hat-worship; 
and from this it will be obvious that the cere- 
monial use of the hat was considered by Wil- 
liam Penn as more intimately connected with 
the conscience than the Admiral supposed it 
to be. He considered the request of his fa- 
ther as a call upon him to pull down one of 
the barriers which he had just erected in de- 
fence of his religion ; and although he respect- 
ed his father, he yet remembered he owed a 
superior duty to his God, to whom ultimately 
he v/as responsible. Deeply impressed, there- 
fore, with these considerations^ he found him- 
self under the necessity of informing his father 
that he could not comply with his request ; 
which so incensed the Admiral, who conceived 
it impossible that any person bred up as a 
gentleman could refuse to concede a mere 
point of courtesy, that he immediately dis- 
missed him his house ; and William, being thus 
deprived of a home, and having, as before 
stated, joined in membership with the Qua- 
kers, he came forth in 1668, then in his twenty- 
fourth year, in the important character of a 
preacher of the Gospel. He also appeared 
for the first time in this year as an author, and 
published, *'Truth exalted, in a short but sure 
testimony against all those religions, faiths, 
and worships, that have been formed and fol- 

3* 



30 THE LIFE OP 

lowed in the darkness of apostacy, and for 
that glorious light which is now risen and 
shines forth in the life and doctrines of the de- 
spised Quakers, as the alone good old way of 
life and salvation." 



CHAPTER III. 

Principles of the Quakers — Controversy with the Presbyte- 
rians — William Penn publishes " The Sandy Foundation 
Shaken ;" and is consequently imprisoned in the Tower 
of London — Writes "No Cross, No Crown," during his im- 
prisonment — Character of that work — Penn writes to 
Lord ArUngton — Substance of the letter — It is disregard- 
ed — Penn publishes " Innocency with her open face" — 
Is released from his imprisonment by the king. 

Many will, without doubt, accuse William 
Penn, judging from the title of the foregoing 
work, and as he conceived it his duty to ap- 
pear to the world as the defender of his own 
faith, of no small share of arrogance. But 
these must be informed, that the early Qua- 
kers believed that the religious doctrine prom- 
ulgated by George Fox v^as a new ordination 
of Providence to restore Christianity to its 
pristine purity, and that they were to become 
the instruments of so glorious a work. This 
belief originated from various causes. They 
who adopted Quakerism, led a life of great 



WILLIAM PENJV. 31 

self-denial : they abstained fronn the pleasures 
of the world ; they refrained from every cus- 
tom which could place their chastity and so- 
briety in danger ; they shunned, as a last al- 
ternative, having recourse to law ; and they 
refused, under any pretence whatever, to carry 
arms against their fellow-creatures. Such 
being the nature of the system of this primi- 
tive people, and as they who espoused it were 
willing, like the apostles of old, to stamp the 
sincerity of their faith with the seal of martyr- 
dom, it is not surprising that they should con- 
sider the system in question as likely to re- 
store Christianity to its original purity ; and 
that they spoke with an authority, which, 
in others, would have the appearance of arro- 
gance. 

About this time a circumstance occurred 
which ultimately led to the incarceration of 
William Penn in the Tower. Two Presbyte- 
rians, belonging to a congregation in Spital- 
fields, went to a meeting-house of the Quakers, 
as much from curiosity as to learn the nature 
of their religious creed; and it so happened 
that they were converted. The news of their 
conversion having been carried to their pastor, 
Thomas Vincent, he was so enraged at their 
apostacy, that he not only used his influence to 
prevent them from going there again, but de- 
cried the doctrines of the Quakers as damna- 



32 THE LIFE OF 

ble; and William Penn,in consequence of this 
slander, went to Vincent, accompanied by 
George Whitehead, and demanded an oppor- 
tunity of publicly defending their principles. 
After a good deal of reluctance, the Fresbyte- 
rian meeting-house was accordingly agreed 
5jpon for this purpose, and the day and hour 
appointed. 

it is not requisite to detail here the argu- 
ments adduced in this controversy; but it 
will be proper to remark, that the Presbyte- 
rians behaved with manifest intemperance 
throughout, and on a reply of George White- 
head's which excited their indignation, Vin- 
cent inmiediately knelt down and prayed, ac- 
cused the Quakers of blasphemy, and having 
finished, dismissed his congregation, and with- 
drew from the pulpit; having thus deprived 
William Penn of an opportunity of replying, 
and defending the doctrine which had occa- 
sioned so much warm discussion. He accord- 
ingly determined to appeal to the public, and 
published *' The Sandy Foundation shaken," 
which he prefaced by noticing the proceed- 
ings relative to Vincent, and afterwards at- 
tempted to refute " the notion of one God 
subsisting in three distinct and separate per- 
sons;" also "the notion of the impossibility of 
God pardoning sinners without a plenary sat- 
isfaction ;" and " the notion of the justifica- 



WILLIAM PENN. 33 

lion of impure persons by means of an impu- 
tative righteousness." This work gave great 
oifence, as it was deemed at that period high- 
ly criminal to defend, publicly and openlj^j the 
unity of God detached from his trinitarian na- 
ture. As some of the prelates, and particular- 
ly the bishop of London, considered themselves 
as principally offended, they made it an affair 
of public animadversion by the government; 
which ended in the apprehension of William 
Penn, and his being committed as a prisoner 
to the Tower. 

While here, he was kept in close confine- 
ment, and treated with great rigour. But he 
was too sincere in his faith to be changed by 
such treatment. On the contrary, instead of 
making any mean concessions, he informed 
the bishop of London, "that his prison should 
be his grave, before he would renounce his 
just opinions ; for that he owed his conscience 
to no man." Neither could he, consistently 
with his notions of duty, remain idle during 
his residence in the Tower : he therefore ap- 
plied himself to writing, and produced " No 
Cross, no Crown," which may justly be called 
a noble production, and which passed through 
several editions in the life-time of the author. 
The design of this work appears to have origi- 
nated from the nature of his situation, joined 
to a wish of doing good. Deprived of liberty 



34 THE LIFE OF 

for the sake of his religion, he felt the neces- 
sity of stating and enforcing the important 
truth implied in the title of it ; which was, 
that provided men are not willing to lead a 
life of sobriety, temperance, and self-denial, 
to endm-e hunger and thirst for Christ's sake, 
in short, unless they are willing to bear the 
cross of Christ, the}' can never attain the crown 
of eternal glory. The work was rich in doc- 
trine, glowing in composition, and displayed 
an acquaintance with history, a depth of read- 
ing, an extensive erudition, combined with a 
knowledge of the world, which were truly ad- 
mirable. 

During the confinement of William Penn in 
the Tower, he maturely w^eighed and consi- 
dered the various circumstances which led to 
his imprisonment there ; and the result was, 
that he became deeply impressed with the con- 
viction, that the government acted not only 
contrary to the spirit and principles of the re- 
ligion, but of the laW'S of the realm, by depriv- 
ing him of his liberty : he therefore addressed 
a letter to lord Arlington, principal secretary 
of state, demanding his release. In this letter 
are to be found many just and noble senti- 
ments. He informs his lordship, " that he is 
at a loss to imagine how a diversity of religious 
opinions can affect the safety of the state, see- 
ing that kingdoms and commonwealths have 



WILLIAM PENJV. 35 

lived under the balance of divers parties ; — 
that they only are unfit for political society, 
who maintain principles subversive of industry, 
fidelity, justice and obedience ; but to say 
that men must form their faith of things pro- 
per to another world according to the pre- 
scriptions of other mortal men in this, and, if 
they do not, that they have no right to be at 
liberty or to live in this, is both ridiculous and 
dangerous; — that the understanding^ can never 
be convinced by other arguments than what 
are adequate to its own nature ; and if he is at 
any time convinced, he will pay the honour of 
it to truth, and not to base and timorous hy- 
pocrisy ; — and demands, as many of his ene- 
mies have retracted their opinions about him, 
and as his imprisonment is against the privile- 
ges of an Englishman, as well as against the 
forbearance inseparable from true Christiani- 
ty, that he may receive his discharge. He 
makes, he says, no apology for his letter, be- 
cause he conceives that more honor will ac- 
crue to lord Arlington by being just, than ad- 
vantage to himself as an individual by becom- 
ing personally free." 

Notwithstanding this letter he continued 
still in prison ; and having learnt that an out- 
cry had been raised against him, in conse- 
quence of its having been falsely stated that 
he denied the divinity of Christ in the ''Sandy 



36 THE LIFE OF 

Foundation shaken," he therefore published 
*' Innocency with her open face," in explana- 
tion. In this tract he reviewed the contents 
of the former, and aUhough he uniformly re- 
jected the doctrine of one God subsisting in 
three distinct and separate persons, as the in- 
ventions of men three hundred years after the 
Christian aera, and which were nowhere to 
be found in scripture, he yet cited passages 
from the Bible to prove that Christ was God, 
and acknowledged the divinity and eternity 
of Christ, or of "a Father, Word and Spirit.'* 
After having been confined in the Tower 
for seven months, and treated with great se- 
verity, he was unexpectedly liberated by the 
King, through the intercession of the Duke of 
York, out of compliment, as was supposed, to 
the Admiral. 




WMMIMMMMW^'"" 



WILLIAM PENN. 37 



CHAPTER IV. 

Wm. Penn attends at the death-bed of Thomas Loe — Loe's ex- 
hortation — Penn's father permits him to return to his 
house — Sends him to Ireland on business — he preaches 
there, returns to England, and is completely reconciled 
to his father — Passage of the Conventicle act — Its charac- 
ter — Penn preaches in Gracechurch street — Penn and 
Wiliam Meade are sent to Newgate prison — Their trial 
comes on at the Old Bailey — The justices — The jury — 
The indictment — Plea — Prisoners placed at the bar — 
Fined tor wearing their hats — Witnesses examined — 
Penn's address to the judges — Penn's memorable contro- 
versy with the recorder — His appeal to the jury — Attempts 
of the court to intimidate the jury — Penn's defence of the 
jury — Firmness of the jury and of Penn — Verdict of "Not 
Guilty" returned — The jury fined— Penn's controverby 
with the Mayor — Penn and Meade are again sent to New- 
gate prison — The jury imprisoned — Admiral Penn pays 
the fines of Wm. Penn and Wm. Meade, and procures 
their liberation. 

We next meet with William Penn, after his 
liberation, attending Thomas Loe on his death- 
bed. We here behold the master and his 
disciple brought together at a solemn and in- 
teresting crisis; and it must have been highly- 
gratifying to Loe, at such a time, to reflect 
that one, having, as it were, received his own 
baptism, had, when tried by a fiery ordeal, 
come out of it like gold of the purest and 
finest quality. In taking his final leave of 

4 



38 THE LIFE OF 

Penn, he delivered the following exhortation; 
''Bear thy cross, and stand faithful to thy God; 
then he will give thee an everlasting crown of 
glory that will never be taken from thee. — 
There is no other way that shall prosper, than 
that in which the holy men of old walked. 
God hath brought immortality to light, and 
life immortal is felt. His love overcomes my 
heart. Glory be to his name evermore!" 




William Penn attending the death-bed of Thomas Loe. 



The Admiral hegan now to think, that the 
steady perseverance of his son in the course 
he had adopted, however erroneous it might 
have been, evinced at least his sincerity, as 



WILLIAM PKNN. 39 

his inflexible adherence to his religious prin- 
ciples, in spite of all persecution, was a proof 
of his integrity: he therefore permitted hinn to 
return to his house, and soon afterwards sent 
him on business to Ireland; when, having exe- 
cuted his father's commission, visited such of 
his persecuted brethren as were imprisoned for 
the sake of their rehgion, and preached at 
Cork and Dubhn, he returned to England, 
became completely reconciled to his father, 
and henceforth resided entirely under his pa- 
ternal roof. 

The famous Conventicle act, prohibiting 
dissenters from worshipping God according to 
their own way, was passed by parliament in 
the year 1670. " This act," says Thomas 
Ellwood, "brake down and overran the bounds 
and banks anciently set for the defence and 
security of Englishmen's lives, liberties, and 
properties, namely — trials by jury; instead 
thereof, directing and authorising justices of 
the peace (and that too privately, out of ses- 
sions) to convict, fine, and, by their warrants, 
distrain upon offenders against it, dirtcily con- 
trary to the great charter^ 

Situated as William Penn then was, as a 
preacher of the gospel, it was impossible but 
that the passing of this act must become to 
him a source of much suffering and vexation: 
and accordingly he was one of its earliest vie- 



40 THE LIFE OF 

tims ; for, on his proceeding as usual, with 
some others belonging to his societ}^, to their 
meeting-house in Gracechurch-street, they 
found it guarded by a body of soldiers. Being 
prevented from entering, and a considerable 
crowd having in consequence collected in the 
street, William Penn felt himself called upon 
to preach; but he had not proceeded far in 
discourse, before he was seized, together with 
William Meade, another member of the so- 
ciety, and lodged in Newgate : the whole af- 
fair havingbeen previously concerted, and the 
warrants issued, by Sir Samuel Starling, then 
Lord Mayor, that they might be tried at the 
approaching sessions at the Old Bailey. 

The trial came on the 1st of September; 
and, as the limits of this work preclude the 
possibility of detailing at length the whole of 
this memorable event, its most prominent fea- 
tures are subjoined, which will be sufficient 
to enable the reader to form a correct esti- 
mate of its merits and demerits. 

The justices on the bench were — Sir Sam- 
uel Starling, lord mayor ; John Howell, re- 
corder; Thomas Bludworth, William Peak, 
Richard Ford, John Robinson, Joseph Shel- 
den, aldermen ; and Richard Brown, John 
Smith, and James Edwards, sheriffs. The 
jury, whose names ought to be inscribed on 
the most durable marble, and handed down 



WILLIAM PEXN. 41 

with gratitude to the latest generations, were, 
Thomas Veer, Edward Bushel, John Ham- 
mond, Charles Milson, Gregory Walklet, John 
Brightman, William Plumstead, Henry Hen- 
ley, James Damask, Henry Michael, William 
Lever, and John Baily. 

The indictment falsely stated that the pri- 
soners had preached to an unlawful, seditious 
and riotous assembly; and that they had as- 
sembled together by agreement made before- 
hand, with arms, to the great terror and an- 
noyance of many of his majesty's liege-subjects 
Having been brought to the bar, they pleaded 
NOT GUILTY to the indictment; after which 
they were made to wait until other prisoners 
were tried. And on the 3d of September, the 
trial of the latter having been finished, Wil- 
liam Penn and William Meade were again 
placed at the bar. On entering the court, 
their hats were pulled ofFby one of the officers, 
at which the Lord Mayor was exceedingly en- 
raged, and ordered them to be put on again. 
The Recorder then fined each of the prisoners 
in the sum of forty marks, for being covered 
there, which, he said, amounted to a contempt 
of court. The witnesses having been exam- 
ined, it appeared from their evidence that on 
the 15th of August, between three and four 
hundred people were assembled in Grace- 
cburch-street, and that they saw William 

4* 



42 THE LIFE OF 

Penn speaking to the people, but that they 
could not distinguish what he said, on account 
of the noise. It was also proved that William 
Meade was there, but nobody could tell what 
he said. This was, in effect, the whole of the 
evidence against them ; and the witnesses 
having concluded, the prisoners acknowledged 
that they were present, as charged in the in- 
dictment, but that their intention in being 
there was to worship God. ''We are so far," 
says William Penn, addressing himself to his 
judges, **from recanting or declining to vindi- 
cate the assembling ourselves to preach, to 
pray, or worship the eternal, holy, just God, 
that we declare to all the world, that we do 
beheve it to be our indispensable duty to meet 
incessantly upon so good an account ; nor 
shall all the powers upon earth be able to di- 
vert us from reverencing and adoring our 
God, who made us." He had scarcely uttered 
these words, when one of the sheriffs exclaim- 
ed, that he was not there for worshipping 
God, but for breaking the law. WilHam Penn 
denied that he had broken any law, and de- 
manded to know upon what law the indict- 
ment was founded. The Recorder replied, 
the common law. William Penn requested to 
be informed where that law was to be found. 
The recorder said, that he did not think proper 
to be at the trouble of mentioning all the ad- 



WILLIAM PENN. 43 

judged cases for many years, which they called 
common law, merely to satisfy his curiosity. 
Penn thought, if the law was common, it need 
not be so difficult to produce. On being de- 
sired to plead to the indictment, he expressed 
himself with such freedom that he was term- 
ed a saucy fellow ; and the following are some 
of the questions and answers which succeeded 
in consequence. 

Recorder. — The question is, whether you 
are guilty of this indictment. 

fV.Fenn. — The question is, not whether I 
am guilty of this indictment, but whether this 
indictment be legal. It is too imperfect and 
general an answer to say it is common law, 
unless we know where and what it is ; for 
where there is no law, there is no transgres- 
sion ; and that law which is not in being, is 
so far from being common, that it is no law 
at all. 

Recorder. — You are an impertinent fellow. 
Will you teach the court what law is? It is 
lex non scripta, that which many have stu- 
died thirty or forty years to know; and would 
you have me tell you in a moment? 

fV. Penn. — Certainly: if the common law 
be so hard to be understood, it is far from be- 
ing very common ; but, if the Lord Coke, in his 
"Institutes," be of any consideration, he tells 
us, that common law is common right, and 



44 THE LIFE OF 

that common right is the great charter privi- 
leges confirmed. 

Recorder. — Sir, you are a troublesome fel- 
low, and it is not to the honour of the court to 
suffer you to go on. 

W. Fenn. — I have asked but one question 
and you have not answered me, though the 
rights and privileges of every Englishman are 
concerned in it. 

Recorder. — If I should suffer you to ask 
questions till to-morrow morning, you would 
be never the wiser. 

W. Penn. — That is according as the an- 
swers are. 

Recorder. — Sir, we must not stand to hear 
you talk all night. 

W. Fenn.—l design no affront to the court, 
but to be heard in my just plea; and I must 
plainly tell you that, if you deny me the oyer* 
of that law which you say I have broken, you 
do at once deny me an acknowledged right, 
and evidence to the whole world your resolu- 
tion to sacrifice the privileges of Englishmen 
to your arbitrary designs. 

Recorder. — Take him away. My lord, if 
you take not some course with this pestilent 
fellow to stop his mouth, we shall not be able 
to do any thing to-night. 

* Healing. 



WILLIAM PENN. 45 

Mayor. — Take him away. Take him away. 
Turn him into the bale-dock. 

W. Fenn. — These are but so many vain 
exclamations. Is this justice or true judg- 
ment? Must I therefore be taken away, be- 
cause I plead for the fundamental laws of 
England'? However, this I leave upon the 
consciences of you, who are my jury, and my 
sole judges, that if these ancient fundamen- 
tal laws which relate to liberty and property, 
and which are not limited to particular per- 
suasions in matters of religion, must not be 
indispensably maintained and observed, who 
can say he hath a right to the coat upon his 
back? certainly, our liberties are to be openly 
invaded, our families ruined, and our estates 
led away in triumph by every sturdy beggar 
and mahcious informer, as their trophies, but 
our (pretended) forfeits for conscience-sake. 
The Lord of heaven and earth will be judge 
between us in this matter. 

Recorder, — Be silent there. 

W. Penn. — 1 am not to be silent in a case 
where I am so much concerned: and not only 
myself, but many ten thousand families be- 
sides. 

As they were hurrying the prisoners away 
to the bale-dock, William Penn, who over- 
heard a part of the Recorder's charge to the 
jury, as he was retiring, exclaimed aloud, "I 



46 THE LIFE OF 

appeal to the jury, who are my judges, and 
this great assembly, whether the proceedings 
of this court are not most arbitrary, and void 
of all law, in endeavouring to give the jury 
their charge in the absence of the prisoners. 
] say it is directly contrary to, and destruc- 
tive of the undoubted right of every English 
prisoner, as Coke on the chapter of IVIagna 
Charta speaks." On which the two prisoners 
were forced to their loathsome dungeon; and, 
when they were out of hearing, the jury were 
ordered to decide upon their verdict; which 
was, " Guilty of speaking in Gracechurch- 
street." This verdict so enraged the bench, 
that the jury were loaded with reproaches, 
and sent away for half an hour to reconsider 
it. The time having elapsed, the prisoners 
were placed at the bar, and the jury again 
called in, when they delivered the same ver- 
dict as formerly, with the addition of their 
now affixing their signatures to it. 

The rage of the magistrates now knew no 
bounds at this conduct of the jury, whom they 
did not hesitate to load with the most oppro- 
brious epithets; after which the Recorder ad- 
dressed them as follows: — "Gentlemen of the 
jury, you shall not be dismissed till we have a 
verdict such as the court will accept; and you 
shall be locked up without meat, drink, fire, 
and tobacco. You shall not think thus to 



WILLIAM PENN. 



47 



abuse the court. We will have a verdict by 
the blessing of God, or you shall starve for it." 
On hearing this address, William Penn said, 
*' My jury, who are my judges, ought not to 
be thus menaced; their verdict should be free, 
and not compelled; the bench ought to wait 
upon, and not forestall them. I do desire that 
justice may be done me, and that the arbitrary 
resolves of the bench may not be made the 
measure of my jury's verdict." He also add- 
ed, addressing himself to the jury, and as 
they were hurrying him away to his cell, 
"You are Englishmen, Mind your privilege, 
Give not away your right." After which the 
court adjourned until next morning. 

Next morning the jury were again called 
in, and again returned the same verdict; and 
although they were again sent out, and threat- 
ened in the most brutal and vulgar manner, 
they still delivered the same verdict. William 
Penn having objected to the injustice of the 
court, in having menaced the jury, who were 
his judges by the great charter of England, 
and in having rejected their verdict, the Lord 
Mayor exclaimed, ^' Stop his mouth, jailor, 
bring fetters, and stake him to the ground." 
William Penn replied, " Do your pleasure, 1 
matter not your fetters." The Recorder then 
observed, " 'Till now I never understood the 
reason of the policy and prudence of the Spa- 



48 THE LIFE OF 

niards ia suffering the Inquisition among them; 
and certainly it will never be well with us 
until we have something like the Spanish In- 
quisition in England." The jury refusing to 
retire to find another verdict, as they said they 
had already found one, and could find no 
other, were forced away by the Sheriff, and 
the court adjourned until next day. 

The jury were again called in on the 5th 
of September, having received no refreshment 
for two days and two nights, and ordered by the 
court to give a positive answer to these words: 
" Guilty, or not Guilty?" Their foreman re- 
plied, "Not Guilty;" after which every jury- 
man was required to repeat this answer in- 
dividually, which he did, and the Recorder 
then addressed them collectively as follows: 

i?ecorG^er.— Gentlemen of the jury, 1 am 
sorry you have followed your own judgment 
rather than the good advice which was given 
you. God keep my life out of your hands! But 
for this the court fines you forty marks a man, 
and imprisonment till paid. 

fV. Fenn. — I demand my liberty, being 
freed by the jury. 

Mayor. — No; you are in for your fines. 

W, Penn. — Fines for what? 

Mayor, — For contempt of court. 

fV. Fenn,— I ask if it be according to the 
fundamental laws of England, that any Eng- 



WILLIAM PEWN. 



49 



lishman should be fined or amerced but by 
the judgment of his peers or jury ; since it 
expressly contradicts the fourteenth and twen- 
ty-ninth chapters of the great charter of Eng- 
land, which says^ "No freeman shall be amer- 
ced but by the oath of good and lawful men 
of the vicinage." 




The trial of Wm. Penn and Wm. Meade 

Recorder.' — Take him away. 

JV. Penn. — I can never urge the funda- 
mental laws of England, but you cry Take 
him away: but it is no wonder, since the Span- 
ish Inquisition has so great a place in the Re- 
corder's heart. God, who is just, will judge 
you for all these things. 

5 



50 THE LIFE OF 

William Penn had no sooner pronounc- 
ed these words than he was forced away, to- 
gether with Willliam Meade, and committed 
to Newgate, where the jury were also impris- 
oned; on the barbarous plea that the former 
had refused to pay a fine, exacted for an of- 
fence committed by the mayor's own com- 
mand; and the latter because they would not 
perjure themselves, in finding a verdict con- 
trary to their consciences. 

Thus ended this famous trial, and William 
Penn and VVilHam Meade, although acquitted 
by a jury of their country, were kept prison- 
ers in Newgate, because they could not con- 
scientiously pay fines which they considered 
had been arbitrarily and unlawfully imposed 
upon them; until the Admiral, who looked 
upon the treatment of his son as oppressive 
and unjust, and who, in consequence of the 
long-declining state of his health, wished to 
confer with him as to the settlement of his 
family affairs, privately sent the money, and 
thus procured the liberation of both. What 
became of the noble and independent jury- 
men, or how long they were allowed to lan- 
guish in prison, is uncertain; as, shame to the 
times! no written testimonial, or sculptured 
marble, records the fate of these inestimable 
men. 



WILLIAM FENN% 51 



CHAPTER V. 

Admiral Penn's last advice to his son — His death — Wm. 
Penn goes to Oxford — His letter to the Vice Chancellor — 
Wm. Penn retires to the family seat in Buckinghamshire — 
Writes 'A Seasonable Caveat against Popery' — Returns to 
London — Imprisoned again in the Tower of London for 
preaching — Taken before the justices — Refuses to take an 
oath — Nobly repels an attack on his moral character — Is 
imprisoned for refusing the oath. 

The Admiral continued daily to grow worse 
after the liberation of his son, and finding him- 
self on the verge of eternity, addressed him as 
follows:— "Son William, i am weary of the 
world! I would not live over my days again, 
if T could command them with a wish; for the 
snares of life are greater than the fears of 
death. This troubles me, that I have offended 
a gracious God. The thought of this has fol- 
lowed me to this day. Oh ! have a care of 
sin ! It is that which is the sting both of life 
and death. Three things I commend unto 
you. First, let nothing in this world tempt 
you to wrong your conscience. 1 charge you, 
do nothing against your conscience: so will 
you keep peace at home, which will be a feast 
to you in a day of trouble. Secondly, what- 
ever you design to do, lay it justly, and time 
it seasonably, for that gives security and des- 



52 THE LIFE OF 

patch. Thirdly, be not troubled at disappoint- 
ments; for if they may be recovered, do it ; if 
they cannot, trouble is then vain. If you could 
not have helped it, be contented; there is often 
peace and profit in submitting to Providence, 
for afflictions make wise. If you could have 
helped it, let not your trouble exceed instruc- 
tion for another time. These rules will carry 
you with firmness and comfort through this 
inconstant world." And again, "Son William, 
if you and your friends keep to your plain way 
of preaching, and plain way of living, you will 
make an end of the priests to the end of the 
world. Bury me by my mother — Live all 
in love — Shun all manner of evil, and I pray 
God to bless you all." He expired soon af- 
terwards. 

Such were the last words of a man who was 
glutted with the honours of the world ; and 
they furnish a proof that life has so many 
drawbacks, and is subject to so many snares, 
that it is not worth living over again, even 
were it in our power. 

William Penn, who had now become pos- 
sessed of an estate amounting at that time to 
no less than fifteen hundred pounds per annum, 
hadoccasion about this time to go into the coun- 
try, and happening to stop at Oxford, he there 
learnt that several members of his society had 
been treated with great cruelty, on account 



WILLIAM PENN. 53 

of their religious meetings, by the students; and 
having good reason to believe that the vice- 
chancellor v^'as concerned with them in their 
abuse of his brethren, he wrote him a letter, of 
which the introductory sentence is subjoined, 
on account of the sovereign contempt with 
which Penn appears to have treated that 
learned personage, and also on account of its 
singularity. " Shall the multiplied oppres- 
sions which thou continuest to heap upon in- 
nocent English people, for their peaceable re- 
ligious meetings, pass unregarded by the eter- 
nal God? Dost thou think to escape his fierce 
wrath and dreadful vengeance for thy ungod- 
ly and illegal persecution of his poor children? 
I tell thee, no. Better were it for thee thou 
hadst never been born. Poor mushroom ! wilt 
thou war against the Lord, and lift up thy- 
self in battle against the Almighty? Canst 
thou frustrate his holy purposes, and bring his 
determinations to nought? He has decreed 
to exalt himself by us, and to propagate his 
Gospel to the ends of the earth." The eru- 
dition and dignity of a vice-chancellor of Ox- 
ford were never, in all probability, so lightly 
esteemed, and himself treated with such mark- 
ed and bitter scorn, as by William Penn on 
the present occasion ; but as the sentiments 
expressed in this letter will appear unac- 
countable to many, it will be necessary to 

5* 



54 THE LIFE OF 

state, that the early Quakers denied that hu- 
man learning was an essential qualification for 
the priesthood. They considered those only 
qualified for the holy office whose hearts were 
sealed by the divine Spirit, and as they be- 
lieved that they had a divine commission, in 
consequence of which they were to become 
the instruments of purifying the rest of man- 
kind, they spoke and wrote with an authority 
unusual with others. 

Having afterwards retired to the family seat 
of Penn in Buckinghamshire, and meeting 
with a pamphlet which contained the tenets 
of the Roman Catholic faith, he wrote a reply 
to it, entitled " A seasonable Caveat against 
Popery.*' He here endeavoured to refute 
certain doctrines of the Romish church; and 
although severe against Catholics on the score 
of their religion, he was a decided enemy to 
all persecution of them on that account; *' for 
he professed himself a friend to universal tol- 
eration of faith and worship, so that he would 
have had such toleration extended even to 
them, provided they would give security that 
they would not persecute others on the same 
score." — He returned to London towards the 
end of the year, when an event occurred 
which subjected him to new suffering ; for 
happening to preach at a place of worship 
belonging to the Quakers in Wheeler-street, 



WILLIAM PENX. OO 

he was suddenly seized by a file of soldiers, 
assisted by some constables, dragged out 
of the uieeting-house, and conveyed to the 
Tower. He was soon afterwards conducted 
before the Lieutenant, Sir John Robinson, Sir 
Sannuel Starling (two of his old persecutors). 
Sir John Shelden, and Colonel Ricraft. Two 
of the constables then deposed that the prison- 
er was speaking to an assenibly of people in 
Wheeler-street, but refused to swear to an un- 
lawful meeting. Sir John Robinson being 
greatly enraged at not being enabled to con- 
vict William Penn on the Conventicle act, be- 
took himself to the Oxford act, but being also 
frustrated in this attempt, and resolving not 
to be overcome, he had recourse to the old 
custom — when it was wanted in those days to 
convict a Quaker — of offering the oath of 
allegiance, being well aware at the same time 
that he could not conscientiously take it; and 
that a refusal, when legally offered, was im- 
prisonment by law. William Penn accordingly 
refused to take it, and, although he strongly 
urged his reasons for so doing, yet no argu- 
ments could avail with the inexorable Robin- 
son. On Penn's still refusing to take the 
proffered oath, he was questioned by, and re- 
pHed to, Sir John Robinson, as follows. 

Sir John. — Do you yet refuse to swear? 

fV, Penn,- — Yes, and that upon better 



56 THE LIFE OF 

grounds than those for which thou wouldst 
have me swear, if thou wilt please to hear 
me. 

Sir John. — I am sorry you should put me 
upon this severity: it is no pleasant work to 
me. 

PF. Penn. — These are but words: it is ma- 
nifest that this is a prepense malice; thou hast 
several times laid the meetings for me, and 
this day particularly. 

Sir John. — No. I profess I could not tell 
you would be there. 

W. Penn. — Thine own corporal told me 
you had intelligence at the Tower, that I 
would be at Wheeler-street to-day, almost as 
soon as I knew it myself. It is disingenuous 
and partial. I never gave thee occasion for 
such unkindness. 

Sir John. — I knew no such thing; but'if I 
had, I confess I should have sent for you. 

W. Penn. — That might have been spared. 
I do heartily believe it. 

Sir John — I vow, Mr. Penn, I am sorry 
for you: you are an ingenious gentleman; all 
the world must allow you, and do allow you 
that : and you have a plentiful estate : why 
then should you render yourself unhappy by 
associating with such simple people? 

fV. Penn»—l confess [ have made it my 
choice to relinquish the company of those who 



WILLIAM PEIVN. 57 

are ingeniously wicked, to converse with those 
that are more honestly simple. 

Sir Johfi. — I wish you wiser. 

W. Penn. — I wish you better. 

Sir John. — You have been as bad as other 
folks. 

PV. Pean. — When and where? 1 charge 
thee to tell the company to my face. 

Sir John. — Abroad and at home too. 
I Sir John Shelden, who felt indignant at the 
unmerited reproach thus cast upon the hither- 
to blameless character of William Penn, ex- 
claimed, ''No, no, Sir John, that is too much." 
William Penn, who was also conscious ot" the 
rectitude and purity of his own conduct from 
his earliest youth, burst out into the following 
impassioned appeal. ''I make this bold chal- 
lenge to all men, women, and children upon 
earth, justly to accuse me with having seen 
me drunk, heard me swear, utter a curse, or 
speak one obscene or profane word, much less 
that [ ever made it my practice. I speak this 
to God's glory, who has ever preserved me 
from the power of these pollutions, and who 
begot in me from a child an hatred towards 
them. Thy words shall be thy burthen, and 
1 trample thy slander as dirt under my feet." 
Sir John Robinson then informed him that 
he must send him to Newgate for six months. 
To which William Penn immediately rephed, 



58 



THE LIFE OF 



*'And is this all? Thou well knowest a larger 
imprisonment has not daunted me. I accept 
it at the hand of the Lord, and am contented 
to suffer his will. Alas ! you mistake your 
interest! This is not the way to compass your 
ends. I would have thee and all men know, 
that 1 scorn that religion which is not worth 
suffering for, and able to sustain those that 
are afflicted for it. Thy religion persecutes, 
and mine forgives. I desire God to forgive 
you all that are concerned in my commitment; 
and I leave you all in perfect charity, wish- 
ing you everlasting salvation." 

He was immediately committed to New- 
gate, to expiate, by six months' imprison- 
ment, the heinous offence of refusing to take 
an oath. 




WILLIAM PENN. 



CHAPTER VL 



59 



Works written by Penn during his imprisonment — He is 
liberated, and travels and preaches in Germany — He is 
married^Preaches in England— Publishes several new 
works. 

During the imprisonment of William Penn 
in the Tower, he wrote and published several 
works; and, among others, '* The great case 
of Liberty of Conscience once more briefly 
considered." This book commenced with the 
following excellent address to "The Supreme 
Authority of England." 

^' Toleration^ for these ten years past, has 
not been more the cry of some, than persecu- 
tion has been the practice of others; though 
not on grounds equally rational. 

" The present cause of this address is, to 
solicit a conversion of that power to our relief, 
which has been employed to our depression ; 
that after this large experience of our innocen- 
cy, and long since expired apprenticeship of 
cruel sufferings, you will be pleased to cancel 
our bonds, and give us a possession of those 
freedoms to which we are entitled by Enghsh 
birthright, 

" We would not attribute the whole of this 



60 THE LIFE OF 

severity to malice, since not a little share may 
justly be ascribed to mis-intelligence. 

''For 'tis the infelicity of governors to see 
and hear by the eyes and ears of other men; 
which is equally unhappy for the people. 

**And we are bold to say, that suppositions 
and mere conjectures have been the best mea 
sures that most have taken of us and our prin- 
ciples; for, whilst there have been none more 
inoffensive, we have been marked for capital 
offenders. 

" 'Tis hard that we should always lie under 
this undeserved imputation ; and, which is 
worse, be persecuted as such without the li- 
berty of a just and impartial defence. 

''In short, if you are apprehensive that our 
principles are inconsistent with the civil go- 
vernment, grant us a free conference about the 
points in question; and let us know what are 
those laws essential to preservation, that our 
opinions carry an opposition to : and if, upon 
a due inquiry, we are found so heterodox as 
represented, it will then be but time enough 
to inflict these heavy penalties upon us. 

"And, as this medium seems the fairest and 
most reasonable, so can you never do your- 
selves greater justice either in the vindication 
of your proceedings against us, if we be crim- 
nal, or, if innocent, in disengaging your ser- 
vice of such as have been the authors of so 



WILLIAM PENN. 61 

much mis-information. But could we once 
obtain the favour of such debate, we doubt 
not to evince a clear consistency of our life and 
doctrine with the English government; and 
that an indulging of dissenters, in the sense 
defended, is not only most Christian and ra- 
tional, but prudent also ; and the contrary, 
however plausibly insinuated, the most inju- 
rious to the peace, and destructive of that dis- 
creet balance which the best and wisest states 
have ever observed. 

<< But if this fair and equal offer finds not 
a place with you on which to rest its foot, 
much less that it should bring us back the 
olive-branch of Toleration, we heartily em- 
brace and bless the providence of God, and, 
in his strength, resolve by patience to out- 
weary persecution, and by our constant suffer- 
ings seek to obtain a victory more glorious 
than any our adversaries can achieve by all 
their cruelties." 

Having finished the different works in which 
he was engaged, and theperiodof hisimprison- 
ment having expired, he was accordingly 
liberated ; after which he travelled into Hol- 
land and Germany, where he promulgated the 
doctrines of his religious society with considera- 
ble success. 

In 1672 he returned to England, being then 
in the twentv-eighth year of his age, and soon 

6 



62 THE LIFE OF 

afterwards espoused Gulielma Maria Sprin- 
gett, daughter of Sir William Springett, of 
Darling, in Essex, who was killed at the siege 
of Bamber, during the civil wars, in the ser- 
vice of the parliament. Miss Springett was 
as celebrated for the beauty of her person, and 
the mildness of her disposition, as for brillian- 
cy of wit, and depth of understanding. She 
was considered, indeed, an extraordinary wo- 
man; and although William Penn, being now 
married, and in possession of wealth and beau- 
ty, might have enjoyed, ' otium cum digni- 
tate^* he yet continued to fulfil the important 
and laborious office of a minister of the Gos- 
pel, with the same zealous perseverance and 
unshaken constancy, which had already ren- 
dered him so distinguished a promulgator of 
the doctrine of the Quakers. He was also 
frequently called forth about this period as a 
controversial writer, in behalf of his society, 
owing to the disputes which agitated the re- 
ligious world; so that, in his capacity of a pub- 
lic preacher and controversial writer, he had 
but little time left him for repose during the 
present year. Soon after his marriage he 
traversed the counties of Kent, Sussex, and 
Surrey, with such rapidity, that he preached 

♦Literally " Ease with dignity." It answers to our 
idea of leisure and independence. 



WILLIAM PENiY. 63 

to no less than twenty-one different congrega- 
tions in twenty-one successive days f and, 
considering the then wretched state of the 
roads, and that some of the places at which he 
preached were at considerable distances from 
one another, this must be deemed a perform- 
ance of great bodily, as well as mental exer- 
tion. As an author we find him equally inde- 
fatigable. He published '<The Spirit of Truth 
vindicated," 'Tlain Dealing with a Traducing 
Anabaptist/' *' A Winding Sheet for Contro- 
versy ended," " Quakerism a new nickname 
for old Christianity," and '' The New Wit- 
nesses proved Old Heretics." There is also a 
letter extant which he wrote this year to Dr. 
Herbert, of Embden, in Germany, who had 
embraced the religious principles of the Qua- 
kers, during William Penn's late tour on the 
Continent, to encourage and strengthen him to 
pursue the path he had thus taken. 




64 THE LIFF. or 



CHAPTER VII. 

Penn preaches in the West of England — His controversy 
with Thomas Hicks — Meeting at Barbican — Penn's letter 
to George Fox — His controversy with John Faldo — Dr. 
Moore's encomium on Penn's works. 

In 1 673 we find William Penn, accompanied 
by Gulielma Maria Penn, and George White- 
head, travelling in the western parts of the 
kingdom, spreading their principles as they 
went along, and converting many to their 
persuasion. 

His employment this year, as a writer, was 
endless and multifarious. Thomas Hicks, a 
baptist preacher, was the first who called him 
forth. Alarmed, like several others, at the de- 
fection of many of his congregation, this per- 
son began his* attack upon the Quakers by 
writing a Dialogue between a Christian and a 
Quaker, which he forged so well, that many 
considered it not as a fiction, but as a discourse 
which had actually taken place between the 
parties as described. By making, too, his Qua- 
ker say every thing that was weak and silly, 
he paved the way for such answers from his 
Christian as ensured the victory on the side of 
the latter. William Penn published, in reply 
to this, *'The Christian Quaker and his Divine 



WILLIAM PENN. 65 

Testimony vindicated." In this publication 
he conducted himself with great dignity; for, 
instead of launching out against Hicks in terms 
of severity, he nowhere mentioned his name, 
but satisfied himself with giving a compendium 
of the principles of his own society in those 
points which were then at issue between them, 
leaving him and others to compare the sub- 
stance of it with that of the dialogue in ques- 
tion. The great subject of the work was the 
Light of Christ within, which he treated in 
the following manner. He explained what 
this light was ; calUng it, among other things, 
the Principle of God in Man, and asserting 
it to be the same as the Word, Spirit, Life, 
Light, Seed, Truth, as used in the holy Scrip- 
tures. This light manifested and reproved 
sin, and led to salvation; — to salvation, tirst, 
from sin, and secondly, from the wrath to come. 
The argument, that men were wicked not- 
withstanding they had this light within them, 
was no more an argument against its exis- 
tence, than that men were wicked was an ar- 
gument against the existence of the scriptures, 
which also they had in their possession. Neith- 
er, because all matters were not revealed by 
it, was this an argument against its sufficiency. 
As this light had manifested and reproved sin, 
and led to salvation since the coming of Christ, 
so it had performed the same offices before ; 

*6 



ee 



THE LIFE OF 



namely, from Adam through all the patri- 
archs and prophets — and as the Jews had a 
certain measure of this light, so also had the 
Gentiles. This was manifest from the tenets 
of their wise men, who acknowledged one 
God; who believed that the same God had im- 
printed the knowledge of himself on the minds 
of all mankind; that it became men to live 
piously ; that the soul was immortal; and that 
there was an eternal recompense. This was 
the Gentile divinity ; and though Jews and 
Christians had the advantage of the Gentiles, 
in the measure of this light, yet the latter had 
sufficient for their own salvation. Some of 
them had a light of the coming of Christ. — 
Christ was this light, according to the Scrip- 
tures. It was no argument against this, that 
he was not so called by Jews and Greeks ; nor 
was it an argument against this, that he was 
typified to come, when he was come before ; 
nor did a belief that Christ was this light in- 
validate his life, death or resurrection, or the 
doctrine that he bore our iniquities, or that 
men w^ere redeemed by his blood. As Christ 
then was the light within, so this light had 
been given without exception, that is, to man- 
kind universally. It had been given to them 
also in a measure sufficient for their salva- 
tion; and all those who obeyed it forsook their 



WILLIAM PEN N". 67 

evil ways, and became transformed in their 
lives and characters. 

Shortly after this, Hicks produced a con- 
tinuation of the same Dialogue, by the addi- 
tion of a second part; and as he took no notice 
in it of "The Christian Quaker and his Divine 
Testimony vindicated," he so offended William 
Penn by this unfair treatment, that he imme- 
diately attacked him by publishing a little 
work, entitled '' Reason against Railing and 
Truth against Fiction." But Hicks was not 
even yet silenced, for he resumed his opera- 
tions against the Quakers, by adding a third 
part to his Dialogue, and which produced 
from William Penn in return, " The counter- 
feit Christian detected, and the real Quaker 
justified." After this. Hicks appeared no 
more in print. The controversy, however, 
did not end here ; for he had fabricated so 
many falsehoods respecting the Quakers, that 
William Penn laid his complaint before the 
public in a printed paper, wherein he de- 
manded a public meeting of the Baptists, in 
which the grievances of the Quakers might be 
heard. This demand after much opposition 
w^as complied with, and a meeting appointed 
to be held at Barbican. When the parties 
met, the Baptists were clamorous against "The 
Christian Quaker and his Divine Testimony 
vindicated."— '' If," they cried, '' Christ was 



68 THE LIFE OF 

the light within, where was his manhood? " 
and they made so much noise, and were so 
riotous, that they compelled, as it were, the 
Quakers to sustain a controversy on this point. 
This having been acceded to, the tumult sub- 
sided, and ihe meeting passed into silence, de- 
corum, and good order. 

There is no printed account of this contro- 
versy to be found ; but the following extract 
of the fragment of a very curious letter writ- 
ten by William Penn to George Fox, on this 
occasion, will be found highly interesting, and 
tend to throw some light on the subject. — 
"Thy fatherly love," says he, ''and tender care, 
1 do with all gentleness and true respect re- 
ceive; but thou shalt understand the occasion 
of our answer, wherein we stated that ' the 
holy manhood was a member of the Christ of 
God.' 

^-The question was, 'if the manhood were a 
part of Christ?' To this we must either have 
answered nothing, or only a Scripture, or in 
the terms of the question, or as we did. 

"If we had answered nothing, we had grati- 
fied the enemy, stumbled the moderate, and 
grieved friends. 

"If a Scripture, it had been no way satisfac- 
tory; for the question, they would have said, 
was not about the text, but about the under- 
standing of it ; and they would have charged 



WILLIAM PENN. 



69 



US with so wresting it to a mystical sense, as 
to shut out the person that appeared in the 
flesh: so that, if we had answered Ihem in 
any of those Scriptures, they would have ask- 
ed in all probability, What man do you mean? 
the new creature or creation? the spiritual 
and heavenly man? or that outward man, 
that was born outwardly of the Virgin in 
Palestine, and was there outwardly crucified? 
If we had said No, we had been lost. That 
they would have put a mystical construction 
on our words, if we had not answered them 
plainly, that is, by what we understood by 
the Scripture rather than by the Scripture 
itself, I have cause to believe, because the 
same person that proposed the question thus 
expounded, after the meeting, our belief in 
Christ: Hhat he was born of a virgin, that is 
of a virgin-nature and spirit; crucified, that is, 
slain by sin in us; rose, that is, rose up to rule 
us, and the like,'— making the people beUeve, 
that we denied that person, that outwardly 
appeared, to be the true Christ. 

"Farther; if we had answered in the terms 
of the question, we had taken Christ intoparts, 
whereas I cried twice to them, ' Christ is not 
to be divided into parts.' But they still 
pressed the question, six thousand people, I 
believe, being present, and many of them were 
desirous of an answer. Upon this, Friends 



70 THE LIFE or 

consented that it should be answered them, 
*that the manhood was a part of Christ.' But 
I feared the word part, and chose rather to 
say that we believed the holy manhood to be 
a member of the Christ of God, and my rea- 
sons for so doing were these : First, what 
needed we to grant more than was asked ? — 
Friends only desired to have us grant that the 
manhood was a part of Christ, in order to 
overthrow Hicks' attempt to prove us no 
Christians; and that was of so great moment 
in that solemn and great assembly, as tongue 
cannot utter. Secondly, since we were wil- 
ling to go no farther in our confessions than 
they asked at our hands, this was my reason 
for rejecting the word part for member ^ to 
wit, that a body may be taken into members 
without a breach of union, but not into parts. 
A member divides not, parts divide. Christ is 
called the head, that is, the most noble mem- 
ber, the church the body, and particulars are 
styled members of that body. Now, calling 
these members divides them, not into parts. 
Thirdly, I did not say, it was but^ member, and 
1 often repeated, that it was of and belonginpr 
to Christ, and in my confession at the close I 
said, that we believed in Christ, both as he 
was the man Jesus, and God over all blessed 
for ever. And I am sure that Paul divides 
him more than we did, Rom. ix. 5, since he 



WILLIAM PENiV. 71 

makes a distinction between Christ as God, 
and Christ as man. Now if that hold, the one 
was not completely Christ without the other, 
as said these Baptists. G. K. said, that he was 
most excellently called so as God, less excel- 
lently as man, and least excellently as to his 
body. We might truly say then, that the 
body loas a T/iember, or belonging to the 
true Christ; and if we had said more, we had 
gone too far, as 1 have learned. But, blessed 
be the Lord, I have not sought to comprehend 
or imagine ; but as I am furnished upon the 
occasion, so it goes. I value the invisible 
touches and feeling, of heavenly virtue and 
life, beyond it all ; nor am I delighted with 
these matters : but dear George, 1 confess I 
never heard any Friend speak so fully as to 
Christ's manhood as thyself. I think so much 
in print, in our name as a people, would remove 
much prejudice, and the contest would come 
more to power against power, than words 
against words; only we mustl remember, that 
Christ is said to have been in the wilderness, 
and to have brought the^people out of Egypt. 
If so, then he was Christ, before he was 
born of the Virgin; and;the Apostle says, that 
Christ is God, and that all things were made 
by him; though, doubtless, the great and glo- 
rious appearance' might, by way of eminency, 
most properly deserve and require that title. 
As for those gross terms of human Jlesh and 



72 THE LIFE OF 

human blood, I never spoke or wrote them 
since I knew the Lord's truth. And this 1 must 
needs say, we have been as poor tossed sheep, 
up and down, much abused, and vihfied : but, 
over all, God is raising the strong horn of his 
salvation; and he has magnified his name in 
all bustles and stirs; and Truth has manifestly- 
gotten ground, and in no one thing more than 
our plain confessions of Christ : so much had 
the Devil roosted and nestled himself in them, 
under their misapprehensions of our words in 
that particular; andif any weakness attended 
the phrasing of it, I hope and believe the 
simplicity in which it was delivered will hide 
it from the evil watcher." The first sheet of 
the letter ends here, the remainder being lost, 
together with all farther information of this 
controversy. 

William Penn was next attacked by John 
Faldo, who challenged his opponent to meet 
him in public dispute. The former, however, 
declined it, alleging; as his reason for so doing, 
that the points upon which he had been chal- 
lenged, were then in discussion between the 
Quakers and other people; he also said, "that 
he loved, and therefore that he should at any 
time convenient embrace, a sober discussion 
of the principles of religion, for that he aim- 
ed at nothing more than Truth's triumph, 
though at his own abasement." • Notwith- 



WILLIAM PENN. 73 

standing the modesty of this declaration, it 
did not satisfy Faldo, and he made himself in- 
strumental in assembling a large council of 
divines, by whose advice a former work of his 
called ^'Quakerism no Christianity," was re- 
published, accompanied by a commendatory 
preface produced by the joint labours of this 
learned body. William Penn accordingly 
wrote a reply to it, which, on account of the 
number of clergymen concerned in the pre- 
face, he called '^ A just Rebuke to one-and- 
twenty learned and reverend Divines/' This 
ended the controversy between them ; with 
respect to which, and to the several works 
written by William Penn on the occasion, the 
following encomium was passed by Dr. Henry 
Moore, who was then considered one of the 
most learned and pious divines in the Church 
of England. ^'Meeting," he says, in a letter 
to the author, '' with the little pamphlet of 
yours newly come out, wherein some twenty 
and odd learned and reverend divines are 
concerned, I had the curiosity to buy and read 
it; and though I wish there was no occasion 
for these controversies and contests betwixt 
those who have left the Church of Rome; yet 
I found such a taste both of wit and serious- 
ness in that pamphlet, and the argument it 
was about so weighty, that 1 was so resolved 
to buy all of John Faldo's and all of yours, 

7 



74 THE LIFE OF 

touching that subject ; but before that little 
pamphlet, I never met with any of your wri- 
tings. As to your other books against John 
Faldo, whatever passages there may be that 
may not be agreeable to my sentiments, you 
will easily perceive of what nature they are, 
by perusing my remarks upon G. K.'s imme- 
diate revelation. But there are sundry pas- 
sages in those books of thine nobly Christian, 
and for which I have no small kindness and 
esteem for you, they being testimonies of that 
1 cannot but highly prize wherever I find it." 
He wrote also in the same year, " Judas 
and the Jews combined against Christ and his 
followers," "A Discourse of the general Rule 
of Faith and Practice," and " The proposed 
Comprehension soberly and not unseasonably 
considered;" together with six Letters of pub- 
lic concern, all of which are extant. 




WILLIAM PENN. 75 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Wm. Penn's appeal on the subject of toleration — His letter 
to the King — Persecutions — Wm. Penn's tract entitled 
" England's Present Interest" — His work entitled " The 
continued cry of the oppressed for justice'* — His exer- 
tions in behalf of George Fox — His letter to Fox — ^Fox's 
release. 

The Quakers and other dissenters, had 
been secured from persecution by the declara- 
tion of indulgence granted by Charles the 
Second in 1671, during the short time it was 
in force; but this year> 1674, the Parliament 
though upon the whole friendly to religious 
toleration, considered this declaration an un- 
due extension of the royal prerogative, and 
therefore called it in as illegal. This measure 
led many of those who were in office wilfully 
to misinterpret it, and as implying a wish on 
the part of the Parliament, that all privileges 
to dissenters should be withdrawn ; in conse- 
quence of which they had recourse to their 
former cruel and iniquitous practices, pretend- 
ing also to consider the Conventicle act as 
now in force. 

Intolerancy began first to break out in Wilt- 
shire, and then in Middlesex, where two jus- 
tices of the peace summoned before them 



76 THE LIFE OF 

several Quakers, charged with having met to- 
gether in religious worship contrary to law. 
When this circumstance was made known to 
William Penn, he addressed a moderate and 
respectful letter to them, appealing to their 
good sense on this subject ; and from which 
the following excellent passages are subjoined. 
" Next, let it be weighed," says he, "that we 
came not to our liberties and properties by 
the Protestant religion. Their date rises 
higher. Why then should a nonconformity of 
it, purely conscientious, deprive us of them? 
This or that sort of religion was not specified 
in the ancient civil government. Who art 
thou^ says the Holy Scripture, that judgest 
another mail's servant ? He must stand 
or fall to his master, the great God. Let 
tares and wheat grow up together till the 
harvest. To call the fire from heaven, was 
no part of Christ's religion. Indeed he reprov- 
ed the zeal of some of his disciples. His sword 
is spiritual, like his kingdom. Be pleased to 
remember, that faith is the gift of God, 
and what is not of faith is sin. We must 
either be hypocrites in doinj^whatwe believe 
in our consciences we ought not to do, or in 
forbearing what we are fully persuaded we 
ought to do. Either give us better faith, or 
leave us with such as we have; for it seems 
unreasonable in you to disturb us for that 



WILLIAM PE?rrc 



f77 



which we have, and yet unable to give us any 
other." 

As the spirit of persecution began now to 
spread to an alarming degree, William Penn 
thought it time to interfere more seriously : 
he therefore addressed a letter immediately to 
the King on the subject. This, however, ap- 
pears to have been of no avail, for the evil 
still continued to spread with unabated fury. 
Persons were thrown into prison, so that pa- 
rents and children were separated. Cattle 
were driven away. The widow's cow was not 
even spared. Barns full of corn were seized. 
Household goods were distrained, so that even 
a stool was not left in some cases to sit on, and 
the very milk boiling on the fire for the family 
was thrown to the dogs, in order to obtain the 
skillet as a prize. To such a length were 
these enormities carried, that even some of 
those who went only to visit and sit by their 
sick relations, were adjudged to be a meeting 
assembled to pray in defiance of the law. In 
order to stem this torrent of persecution, and 
in the hope that, if he could not affect some 
men's minds by one kind of argument, he 
might by another, William Penn, therefore, 
published a political work, entitled "England's 
present Interest considered with Honour to 
the Prince, and Safety to the People, in this 
one question. What is most fit, easy, and safe, 

7* 



78 THE LIFE OF 

at this juncture of affairs to be done for quiet- 
ing differences, allaying the heat of contrary 
interests, and making them subservient to the 
interests of the Government, and consistent 
with the prosperity of the kingdom? submitted 
to the consideration of our Superiors." 

In this admirable work, he answered the 
question, which has been just stated in the 
title of it, by asserting, that the thing most 
fit, safe, and easy to be done, would be a de- 
termination by the Government, first, upon an 
inviolable and impartial maintenance of Eng- 
lish rights; secondly, upon conducting itself so 
as to act upon a balance, as nearly as it could, 
towards the several religious interests; and, 
thirdly, upon a sincere promotion of general 
and practical reh'gion. He also maintained, 
that Englishmen had three birth-rights, the 
first consisting *' of an undisturbed ownership 
and possession, so that what they had was 
rightly their own and nobody's else, and such 
ownership and possession related both to title 
and security of estate, and liberty of person, 
from the violence of arbitrary power." The 
second, *^ in the voting of every law that v/as 
made, whereby that ownership in liberty and 
property might be maintained. The third, 
*' in having an influence upon, and great share 
in, the judicatory power, so that they were 
not to be condemned, but by the votes of free- 



WILLIAM PENN^. 



79 



men." This he proved to be the case by an 
appeal to history, and quotations from laws, in 
British, Saxon, and Norman times, and which 
was confirmed by Magna Charta. He main- 
tained, however, that Magna Charta, was 7wt 
the nativity, but the restorer of ancient Eng- 
lish privileges. It was no grant of new rights, 
but only a restorer of the old. Nothing, then, 
could be more unjust than to sacrifice the 
hberty and property of any man for religion, 
where he was not found breaking any law 
which related to natural or civil things. Re- 
ligion, under any modification of church go- 
vernment, formed no part of the old Enghsh 
constitution.—" To live honestly, to do no in- 
jury to another, and to give every man his 
due, was enough to entile every native to Eng- 
lish privileges. It was this, and not his reli- 
gion, which gave him the great claim to the 
protection of the Government under which he 
lived. Near three hundred years before Aus- 
tin set his foot on English ground, the inhabi- 
tants had a good constitution. This came not in 
with him. Neither did it come in with Luther; 
nor was it to go out with Calvin. We were a 
free people by the creation of God, by the re- 
demption of Christ, and by the careful provision 
of our never-to-be-forgotten honorable ances- 
tors ; so that our claims to these English privi- 
leges, rising higher than Protestanism, could 



80 THE LIFE OF 

never be invalidated on account of noncon- 
formity to any tenet or fashion it might pre- 
scribe. This would be to lose by the Refor- 
mation ; which was effected only that we 
might enjoy property with conscience." 

Finding, notwithstanding these forcible ar- 
guments, that persecution still followed those 
who dared to dissent practically from the es- 
tablished Church, he resolved to endeavour 
to make an impression on the feelings of those, 
on whom an appeal to reason and to the law 
and constitution of the country, had had no 
effect. He therefore published a small work 
entitled *'The Continual Cry of the Oppressed 
for Justice; being a farther account of the late 
unjust and cruel proceedings of unreasonable 
men against the persons and estates of many 
of the people called Quakers, only for their 
peaceable meetings to worship God: presented 
to the serious consideration of the King, and 
both Houses of Parliament." He here de- 
tailed, in a plain and simple manner, several of 
the atrocities which had been committed in 
different parts of the kingdom, in the hope 
that the bare recital of them would do good. 
The following extracts will sufficiently evince 
the nature of the cruelties practised on his 
suffering brethren. " Four persons were sent 
to prison only for attending a meeting at Long 
Caxton in Leicestershire, from whom goods of 



WILLIAM PENN. 81 

various kinds were seized to the amount of 
two hundred pounds (a considerable sum in 
those days), their very bed-clothes and work- 
ing-tools being taken from them. In clearing 
the meeting-house on this occasion, not only 
men but women were forcibly dragged out, 
some by the heels and others by the hair of 
their heads. Many were also purposely trod 
upon, and several bruised and wounded in 
different ways. In the county of JNorfolk, 
William Barber's cows, carts, ploughs, &c. to 
the amount of fifty pounds, were seized for 
holding a peaceable religious meeting in his 
own house. Barber's house had been rifled 
before ten times. — In Somersetshire, F. Paw- 
lett, justice of the peace, fined thirty-two per- 
sons, only for being at a burial, and seized for 
the fines, cows, corn, and other goods to the 
amount of eighty-two pounds. No one ap- 
pearing to buy the distrained cattle, the Jus- 
tice employed a person to purchase thenri for 
himself. — In Berkshire, Thomas Curtis was 
fined three pounds by Justice Craven, who 
ordered his mare to be seized, which was 
worth seven pounds : Curtis put in an appeal 
against this proceeding, according to the act, 
but it was thrown out. Craven had the mare 
valued at four pounds, and kept her for him- 
self. — In Cheshire, Justice Daniel took from 
Biiggs and others the value of one hundred 



82 THE LIFE OF 

and sixteen pounds in corn, kine and horses ; 
the latter he had the audacity to retain and to 
work for his own use. In the same county, 
near Nantwich, Justice Mainwaring took by 
warrants, for fines which amounted to eighty- 
seven pounds, goods to the value of one hun- 
dred pounds, in kine, bacon, bedding, brass, 
corn, cloth and cheese. Some of the sufferers 
appealing, the jury acquitted them; but the 
justices would not receive the verdict. The 
same justices, on the other hand, gave judg- 
ment at the next sessions for the informers, 
with treble costs." 

Such was the almost incredible nature of 
the persecutions practised under a government 
calling itself Protestant, and inveighing so bit- 
terly against similar practices in the Church 
of Home. 

William Penn also interested himself about 
this time to procure the release of George 
Fox. The latter, in passing through Worces- 
ter, on his return from America, happened to 
preach there just after the act of Indulgence 
had been called in. The consequence was, 
that he was committed to Worcester gaol, 
■where he had been a prisoner for some months, 
■when Penn exerted himself in his favour, as 
appears by the following letter: — 



william penn. 88 

"Dear George Fox, 
'*Thy dear and tender love in thy last let- 
ter I received, and for thy business thus : A 
great lord, a man of noble mind, did as good 
as put himself in a loving way to get thy liber- 
ty. He prevailed with the King for a pardon, 
but that was rejected. Then he pressed for 
a more noble release. It sticks with the Lord 
Keeper ; and we have used and do use what 
interest we can. The King is angry with him 
(the Lord Keeper,) and promiseth very large- 
ly and lovingly ; so that, if we have been de- 
ceived, thou seest the grounds of it. But we 
have sought after a writ of error these ten 
days past, well nigh resolving to be as sure as 
we can; and an habeas corpus is gone or will 
go to-morrow night. My dear love salutes 
thee and thy dear wife. Things are brave as 
to Truth in these parts, great conviction upon 
the people. My wife's dear love is to you 
all. I long and hope ere long to see you. 

So, dear George Fox, am, &c. 

<'Wm. Penn." 

After the discovery of several errors in the 
indictment, he obtained the release of his 
friend. 



84 THE LIFE OF 



CHAPTER IX. 

Penn's controversy with Richard Baxter — His letter to Bax- 
ter — His letters to Fenwick — He writes to Elizabeth 
Princess Palatine of the Rhine — Penn becomes a mana- 
ger of the colonial concerns in New Jersey — Division of 
New Jersey — He forms a constitution for the colony — 
Outline of the constitution — Settlers invited. 

In the year 1675 we find him still living at 
Rickmansworth, where he had fixed his abode 
after his marriage, and the neighbourhood of 
which began to abound with Quakers, from a 
desire in the members of that society to live 
near him. This latter circumstance occasioned 
him to be brought forward again as a public 
disputant; for the celebrated Richard Baxter, 
passing that way, was so astonished at behold- 
ing so many of the inhabitants of this descrip- 
tion, that he became alarmed for their situa- 
tion, and was therefore desirous of preaching 
to them, in order, to use his own words, "that 
they might once hear what was to be said for 
their recovery." This coming to the know- 
ledge of William Penn, he wrote to Baxter, 
the consequence of which was, that it was 
mutually agreed to hold a public controversy 
on some of the more essential articles of the 
Quaker faith. Of the issue of this controver- 



WILLIAM PENN. 85 

sy little is known, other than that in a letter 
which Penn soon afterwards wrote to Baxter, 
he states, <' that if he had taken advantage of 
him, he could have rendered him more ridicu- 
lous than he feared his principles of love would 
have borne." There is also another letter ex- 
tant of William Penn's to Richard Baxter, 
which manifests a spirit of forgiveness as ex- 
alted in the one, as the belief in the soundness 
of his opponent's heart is creditable to the 
other, whatever may have been his opinion of 
his doctrine and temper. In the conclusion of 
it he says, ''in which dear love of God, Richard 
Baxter, 1 do forgive thee, and desire thy good 
and felicity. And when I read thy letter, the 
many severities therein could not deter me 
from saying, that T could freely give thee an 
apartment in my house and liberty therein ; 
that I could visit, and yet discourse thee in 
much tender love, notwithstanding this hard 
entertainment from thee. I am, without hard- 
er words, thy sincere friend, 

*' William Penn." 

After this he became engaged in an arbitra- 
tion between John Fenwick and Edward Byl- 
linge, two members of his own religious so- 
ciety, who had purchased of lord Berkeley his 
half share of New Jersey, in North America. 
Having well considered the case, he had made 

8 



86 THE LIFE OF 

his award ; but Fenvvick refused to abide by- 
it. This gave him great uneasiness, and pro- 
duced fronti him the following friendly letter: 

"John Fenwjck! 
" The present difference betwixt thee and 
Edward BylHnge fills the hearts of Friends 
with grief, and with a resolution to take it in 
two days into their consideration to make a 
public denial of the person that offers violence 
to the award made, or that will not end it 
without bringing it upon the public stage. — 
God, the righteous judge, will visit him that 
stands off. Edward By Hinge will refer the 
matter to me again, if thou wilt do the like. 
Send me word; and, as opprest as 1 am with 
business, I will find an afternoon, to-morrow 
or next day, to determine, and so prevent the 
mischief that will certainly follow divulging it 
in Westminster Hall. Let me know by the 
bearer thy mind. O John ! let truth and the 
honour of it this day prevail! Woe to him that 
causeth offences! I am an impartial man. 

^'Wm. Penn." 

He afterwards wrote another letter to Fen- 
wick, which, as it evinces the openness of his 
mind, and is withal full of good sense or ra- 
ther true wisdom, is subjoined for the satisfac- 
tion of the reader. 



WILLIAM PENN. 87 

'OoHN Fenwick! 
" 1 have upon serious consideration of the 
present difference (to end it with benefit to 
you both, and as much quiet as may be.) 
thought my counsel's opinion very reasonable: 
indeed, thy own desire to have the eight 
parts added, was not so pleasant to the other 
party that it should now be shrunk from by 
thee as injurious ; and when thou hast once 
thought a proposal reasonable, and given pow- 
er to another to fix it, ^tis not in thy power, 
nor indeed discreet or civil thing, to alter or 
warp from it, and call it a being forced. O 
John! I am sorry that a toy, a trifle, should 
thus rob men of their time, quiet, and a more 
profitable employ. I have had a good con- 
science in what I have done in this affair ; 
and if thou reposest confidence in me, and be- 
lievest me to be a good and just man, as thou 
hast said, thou shouldst not be upon such nice- 
ty and uncertainty. Away with vain fancies, 
I beseech thee, and fall closely to thy business. 
Thy days spend on, and make the best of what 
thou hast. Thy grandchildren may be in the 
other world before the land thou hast allot- 
ted will be employed. My counsel, I will 
answer for it, shall do thee all right and ser- 
vice in the affair that becomes him, who, I 
told thee at first, should draw it up as for my- 



88 THE LIFE OP 

self. If this cannot scatter thy fears, thou art 
unhappy, and I am sorry. 

"Thy friend, '* Wm. Penn." 

In the year 1676, he addressed a letter to 
the princess Elizabeth, daughter of the King 
of Bohemia, and grand-daughter of James the 
First, and to the countess of Homes, the friend 
and companion of the former. These ladies 
had long discovered a serious disposition of 
mind, and the princess had shewn her liberali- 
ty and humanity by afTording an asylum in 
her dominions to persons who had been per- 
secuted on account of their religion. Since 
that time they had looked favourably upon 
those doctrines which the Quakers taught ; 
and the object, therefore, of this letter was 
to afford them consolation, and to exhort them 
to constancy and perseverance in the way 
to which they had been thus providentially 
called. 

About this time William Penn came acci- 
dentally into the situation of a manager of 
colonial concerns in New Jersey in North 
America — a situation not only important in 
itself, but which produced the most important 
results ; for, by being concerned there, he was 
led by degrees into a situation which brought 
before him the great question of settlements 
in the then newly discovered world, which 



WILLIAM PEi^rr. 



enabled him to gain considerable knowledge 
with respect to the formation of these, and 
qualified him for that station which he filled 
afterwards as the founder of Pennsylvania, 
with so much credit to himself, with so much 
honour to his country, and to the admiration 
of succeeding ages. The way in which he 
became so concerned was as follows. Lord 
Berkeley, who was joint proprietor of New Jer- 
sey with Sir George Carteret, had in the pre- 
ceding year sold his half share of it to John 
Fenwick in trust for Edward Byllinge. It 
was on this subject that the dispute arose be- 
tween the latter, which William Penn has 
just been mentioned to have arbitrated, and 
which since that time he had, by means of the 
most exemplary perseverance, brought to an 
amicable issue. As soon as the adjustment 
had taken place, Fenwick, in company with 
his wife and family, and several Quakers, em- 
barked for America in the ship Griffith, and 
took possession of the land. Byllinge, however, 
who had been drained of his money by the 
purchase, and who since the sailing of Fenwick 
had experienced misfortune, found himself 
unable to meet the pecuniary demands which 
were brought against him. He agreed there- 
fore to deliver over his new property in trust 
for hisxreditors ; but, in consenting to do this, 
he had his eye fixed upon the friendly assis- 

8* 



90 THE LIFE CF 

tance of William Penn. He accordingly sup- 
plicated him with the most earnest entreaty 
to become a joint trustee with Gawen Laurie, 
of London, and Nicholas Lucas, of Hertford, 
two of the said creditors, to carry his intention 
into effect. To this, but not till after much 
consideration, he assented; and thus, though 
he was in no way concerned in the affairs of 
Byllinge, he came into the situation described. 

His new office requiring exertion, he was 
all at once overwhelmed in business. In con- 
junction with the other trustees, he agreed 
with Sir George Carteret, on a division of the 
province into East and West New Jersey; the 
latter of which was allotted to them on behalf 
of the creditors of Byllinge. This division 
having been made, they then subdivided their 
own portion into a hundred lots. Ten of these 
they gave to Fenwick, as a repayment for 
time, trouble, and money advanced by him to 
Lord Berkeley, and the remaining ninety they 
reserved for sale. 

The next step was to form a constitution 
for those who, in consequence of purchase, 
were to settle in the new land. This devolved 
almost exclusively upon William Penn. He 
therefore drew up what he called concessions, 
or terms of grant and agreement, which were 
to be mutually signed. The great outUne of 
these may be comprehended in a few words. 



WILLIAM PErflV. 91 

The people were to meet annually, to choose 
one honest man for each proprietary, who had 
signed the concessions. — They who were so 
•chosen, were to sit in assembly. — They were 
to make, alter, and repeal laws. — They were 
there also to choose a governor, or commis- 
sioner, with twelve assistants, who were to 
•execute those laws, but only during their plea- 
sure. Every man was to be capable both of 
choosing and being chosen.— No man was to 
be arrested, imprisoned, or condemned, in his 
estate or liberty, but by twelve men of the 
neighbourhood. No man was to be imprisoned 
for debt; but his estate was to satisfy his credi- 
tors as far as it would go, and then he was to 
be set at liberty, to work for himself and fami- 
ly. — No man was to be molested or interrupt- 
ed on account of his religion. Such was the 
simple outline of the concessions, " by an ad- 
herence to which he hoped he had laid a foun- 
dation for those in after-ages to understand 
their liberty, both as men and Christians; and 
by an adherence to which they could never 
be brought into bondage but by their own 
consent." 

Having made these and other arrangements, 
he and his colleagues gave notice of the same 
in a public letter, which they signed, and cir- 
culated through the kingdom. They particu- 
larly invited those who were of their own 



92 



THE LIFE 6p 



society to become the new settlers. They 
cautioned all, however, against leaving their 
country out of idle curiosity, a rambling dis- 
position, or improper motive, or to the vio- 
lation of the feelings of their kindred, or of 
their religious unity as Friends. To this cau- 
tion they annexed " A Description of West 
New Jersey, of its soil and climate, that none 
might have occasion afterwards to repent of 
their undertaking," 




WILLIAM PENIV. 93 



CHAPTER X. 

Proposals opened for the sale of lands in West New Jersey — 
Arrangement with Byllinge's creditors — The Commission- 
ers appointed — They embark for America — They receive 
the King's blessing — Penn receives a letter from the 
Princess Elizabeth — Penn visits ^Holland — He writes to 
the King of Poland — He visits the Princess Elizabeth — 
His success in preaching — He visits many German cities 
— Labodie and his followers — Anna Maria Schurmans — 
Penn's second visit to the Princess — Returns to Amster- 
dam — Controversy with Abrahams — Penn's preaching at 
Wonderwick — Embarks at the Brill — Returns to Lon- 

i don, and thence to his seat at Worminghurst. 

In the year 1677 William Penn removed 
from Rickmansworth, and established himself 
at Worminghurst in Sussex. He now resolv- 
ed, in conjunction with his colleagues, to open 
proposals for the sale of lands in West New 
Jersey. These offers were no sooner made, 
such being the high character of William Penn, 
than they were accepted. Among the pur- 
chasers were two companies of Quakers from 
London and Yorkshire, who contracted for 
large shares. The members of the latter com- 
pany being the principal creditors of Byllhige, 
received a tenth part of the whole land in lieu 
of their debts. 

As no persons could more properly act as 



S)4 THE LIFE OP 

commissioners than those who had a stake or. 
interest in the new territory, it was judged ad- 
visible that some of the most respectable of 
the purchasers should be appointed to this 
office, and that the purchasers in general 
should nominate the rest. Accordingly Thos. 
Olive, Daniel Wills, Joseph Helmsley, and 
Robert Stacey, were chosen from the two 
companies; to whom were added Richard 
Guy, John Fenwick, John Kinsey, and Ben- 
jamin Scott. Matters having been thus pre- 
pared, the commissioners, with their families, 
to the number of two hundred and thirty, em- 
barked for America. As they were lying in 
the Thames ready to sail. King Charles the 
Second happened to pass by in his pleasure- 
harge. and observing the crowded state of 
their ship, inquired whither they were bound: 
on receiving information, that they were Qua- 
kers, he gave them his blessing, and wished 
them a prosperous and happy termination to 
their voyage. 

Soon after this William Penn determined to 
revisit the continent, by travelling into Hol- 
land and Germany, in consequence of his 
anxiety to communicate "with many seeking 
persons," and also from the many pressing in- 
vitations he received from various persons in 
those parts. The following letter, which he 
received from the Princess Elizabeth, before- 



WILLIAM PENN. 95 

mentioned, evinces in a striking manner the 
pious and modest frame of her mind. 

"This, my friend, will inform you that both 
your letters were acceptable, together with 
your wishes for my obtaining those virtues 
which may make me a worthy follower of our 
great King and Saviour Jesus Christ. What 
I have done for his true disciples is not so much 
as a cup of cold water. It affords them no re- 
freshment. Neither did I expect any fruit 
of my letter to the dutchess of L — , as lex- 
pressed at the same time to B. Furley. But 
as R. Barclay desired I would write it, I could 
not refuse him, nor omit to do anything that 
was judged conducing to his liberty, though 
it should expose me to the derision of the 
world. But this a mere moral man may reach 
at: the true inward graces are yet wanting 
in your affectionate friend, 

" Elizabeth." 

Being thus called upon by the religious 
workings of his own mind, and by such fa- 
vourable circumstances, he resolved upon the 
journey, and embarked at Harwich, on board 
the packet, for Holland. He was accompa- 
nied by George Fox, Robert Barclay, and 
several others of his society. After landing at 
the Brill, they proceeded to Rotterdam, and 



96 THE LIFE OF 

from thence to Ley den, Haarlem, and Am- 
sterdam, at all of which places they held 
meetings, at which, says William Penn, in 
his usual energetic manner, '*the Gospel was 
preached, the dead were raised, and the living 
comforted." On arriving at the latter place, 
they received letters from Dantzic, complain- 
ing of the sufferings which the Quakers un- 
derwent in that city; in consequence of which 
William Penn undertook to write to the king 
of Poland in their behalf. He stated to the 
king, in a respectful manner, what were the 
religious principles of the Quakers, why they 
absented themselves from the common wor- 
ship, and concluded with an eloquent appeal 
to his reason, to protect them in their religious 
rights. " Give us poor Christians," says he, 
"leave to expostulate with thee. When did 
the true church offer violence for religion? 
Were not her weapons prayers, tears, and 
patience? Did not Jesus conquer by those 
weapons, and vanquish cruelty by suffering ? 
Can clubs, and staves, and swords, and prisons, 
and banishments, reach the soul, convert the 
heart, or convince the understanding of man? 
When did violence ever make a true convert, 
or bodily punishment a sincere Christian? This 
maketh void the end of Christ's coming, which 
was to save men's lives, and not to destroy 
them; to persuade them, and not to force them. 



ViLLlAM PENN. 97 

Yea, it robbeth God's spirit of its office, which 
is to convince the world. This is the sword 
by which the ancient Christians overcame. It 
was the Apostle's testimony, that their wea- 
pons were not carnal, but spiritual ; but the 
practice of their pretended successors proveth 
that their weapons are not spiritual, but car- 
nal. Suppose we are tares, as the true wheat 
hath always been called, yet pluck us not up 
for Christ's sake, who saith, Let the tares and 
wheat grow up until the harvest, that is, un- 
til the end of the world. Let God have his 
due as well as Caesar. The judgment of con- 
science belongeth unto him, and mistakes 
about religion are known to him alone. — 
And here let me remind thee of a noble say- 
ing of one of thy ancestors, Stephen, king of 
Poland, 'I am a king of men, not of consciences; 
king of bodies, not of souls.' 

Leaving Amsterdam, they travelled through 
Naarden to Osnaburg, and arrived at Her- 
werden, where the Princess Elizabeth held 
her court, and with whom the countess of 
Homes resided as companion. Next morning 
at seven o'clock they waited upon her by ap- 
pointment, and were received both by the 
Princess and countess with such extraordinary 
marks of kindness as deeply affected them. On 
withdrawing, they were invited to dinner, but 
excused themselves. In the afternoon they 

9 



98 THE LIFE OF 

returned to the palace, and not only the Prin- 
cess and countess, but several others were 
ready to receive them. A meeting for wor- 
ship was then begun according to the custom 
of the Quakers. " It was at this meeting," 
says William Penn, " that the Lord in a more 
eminent manner began to appear.'* The 
hearers are said to have been greatly affected. 
On the next day, they assembled for worship 
again, when, by an arrangement previously 
made, not only the family, but several of the 
inhabitants of the town were present. The 
effect is described to have been great, both 
upon the preachers and the hearers; and upon 
no one more than on the Princess, who was so 
overcome, that when she went to take leave 
of William Penn, after the meeting, she could 
scarcely find utterance for her words. 

Soon after this they left Herwerden, and 
proceeded through Pederborn and Cassel to 
Frankfort, at which places they preached and 
converted many. Leaving Frankfort, they re- 
turned by Mentz, Coblentz, Cologne, and 
Utrecht, to Amsterdam, converting and 
preaching as they went along. At the latter 
place they beheld with much satisfaction, the 
great increase of converts in that city since 
they had left it. Having held two meetings, 
wdiich were numerously and respectably at- 
tended, they visited Horn, Worcum, and Har- 



WILLIAM PEx\X. 



99 



linjyen. At a meeting which they held here, 
to which people of various religious denomi- 
nations resorted, a doctor of physic and a 
presbyterian minister attended among the rest. 
All sat with great attention, but particularly 
the two latter, who were so impressed with 
what they heard, that though they were 
obliged to leave the meeting, the one to de- 
liver a sermon to his congregation, and the 
other to visit his patients, they could scarcely 
withdraw themselves. The former, indeed, 
'' as a man in pain to be gone,, yet wilHng to 
stay," sat at the door until the sermon was 
finished; and then standing up, and looking 
towards heaven, in a solemn and with a loud 
voice, spoke to this efFect: — "^The Almightv, 
the allwise, the omnipotent great god, and his 
Son Jesus Christ, who is for ever and ever 
blessed, confirm his word that hath been spoken 
this day !" 

William Penn, leaving George Fox, and 
taking J. Claus, a converted Dutchman, for 
his companion, went to Leuwarden. The 
meeting there was largely attended, and con- 
sisted of persons who never were at one be 
fore. He then proceeded to V/iemart, the 
residence of one of the Somerdykes, who were 
"people of great breeding and inheritances." 
In this mansion, as in a college, lived several 
persons who made up a religious society or 



100 THE LIFE OF 

church of tlieir own, and lived in love and 
harmony together. J. de Labodie, who was 
then dead, had established it. This person 
was once a Jesuit, but had deserted his order, 
and embraced the Protestant religion. Ivon 
was, at present, the head pastor of this little 
flock, and Du Lignon his assistant. Among 
the occupiers of the mansion were three of 
the Somerdykes, daughters of a nobleman of 
that name, to whom it belonged, and an an- 
cient maiden lady of the name of Schurmans. 
These, with several others, having been af- 
fected by the discourses of Labodie, and 
awakened to seek after a more spiritual fel- 
lowship, had separated themselves fiom the 
common Calvinistic assemblies, and, having 
followed him in the way of a refined indepen- 
dency, had established themselves in this place. 
They formed altogether a serious and plain 
people, and approached near to the Quakers 
in many points; such as in silent meetings, 
women's exhortations there, preaching by the 
spirit, and plainness both in their dress and in 
the furniture of their houses. William Penn, 
having heard of these singular people, had de- 
termined upon visiting them. On being intro- 
duced to Anna Maria Schurmans' apartment, 
he found almost all the party there. He was 
particularly anxious to know what it was that 
had induced them to separate from the com- 



WILLIAM PEXN. 101 

mom way in which they had formerly lived. 
Upon this, Ivon began by giving the history 
of J. de Labodie's education and life. Anna 
Maria Schurmans followed, giving an account 
of her former life, of her conversion under the 
ministry of Labodie, and of her present reli- 
gious state. One of the Somerdykes related 
next her own spiritual experience. This she 
did in a reverent frame of mind, going over 
the same ground and touching upon the same 
points as the former. After her Du Lignon 
gave the reasons which had induced him to 
become a pastor there. A doctor of physic 
spoke next : among other things, he stated 
himself to have been bred up at the university, 
for the church; that he had studied there with 
the character of a serious person, but that he 
had never experienced a living sense of what 
divine things were until he heard J. de Labo- 
die; and that in consequence he left the uni- 
versity, and became one of the family at 
the mansion. William Penn was highly grati- 
fied, and returned the civility by giving an ac- 
count of his own life and conversion, which he 
concluded by religious exhortation and advice. 
On his departure, they gave him their hands 
in the most friendly manner, and wished him 
every happiness. After this he held meetings 
at Groningen and Lippenhausen, from whence 
he went to Embden, Leer, and Bremen; and, 

9* 



102 THE LIFE OF 

after hard travelling, arrived again at Her- 
werden, the residence of the Princess Eliza- 
beth. While he remained here, he was treated 
with the same friendship and attention as for- 
merly. In taking his leave of the Princess, 
which was final, he fell upon his knees, and 
invoked the divine blessing for her preserva- 
tion; tenderly exhorted the countess, her com- 
panion, who implored his prayers in her be- 
half; and spoke to the rest, giving each sepa- 
rately such advice as he judged to be suitable 
to their respective conditions. 

Getting into the post wagon, in company 
with his friend J. Claus, he resumed his tra- 
vels. In this wagon, which was covered 
only by a ragged sheet, he rode three nights 
without lying down or sleeping. The passen- 
gers were much straitened for room, and all 
suffered the greatest hardships; notwithstand- 
ing which, William Penn frequently exhorted 
them, and held discourses on the nature of 
that religion and worship which was most 
Christian. At length, after a journey of two 
hundred miles, he arrived at Wesel. Here, 
and at Dusseldorp, Cleves, and Cologne, he 
employed himself in visiting old friends, making 
new ones, and otherwise promoting the object 
of his journey. Having arrived again at Am- 
sterdam, by the way of Utrecht and Nimeguen, 
he was engaged in a public dispute with 



WILLIAM PENN. 103 

Galenus Abrahams, the great father of the 
Socinian Menists in these parts, who denied 
that there was any new Christian dispensation 
or apostolical commission then going on in the 
world by the instrumentality of the Quakers. 
But all that is known of this dispute is, that 
it lasted from eight in the morning till one 
in the afternoon, and this successively for two 
days. 

The meeting being over, he proceeded with 
George Fox, by whom he had been joined, by 
Leyden to the Hague, and from thence to 
Delft, and Rotterdam. He employed himself 
while in this city in holding public meetings, 
and in writing letters, which he intended to 
leave behind him on his return to England, in 
order that they might be printed and circula- 
ted throughout Germany. He exposed with 
great boldness, in these letters, the failings of 
mankind, and of the different denominations of 
reHgion, and endeavoured to impress upoa 
them what belonged to their relative situations 
in life. His language was clear, nervous, and 
animated, enriched by metaphor and scriptu- 
ral expressions, and manifested the pen of a 
ready writer. Hearing that a nobleman, a 
man of retired and serious habits, lived at the 
village of Wonderwick, he and George Fox 
went to visit him. The nobleman, on learn- 
ing their errand, invited them into his house, 



104 THE LIFE OF 

•which was stately but plain, shook them by 
the hand, and bade them welcome. As soon as 
they were properly seated, he gave them a 
sober and pathetic account of his life and reli- 
gious experience, and then took them into 
another room and introduced them to his wife, 
under the name of some Christian Friends 
who had come to see her. Having sat in silence 
for some time according to the custom of the 
Quaker ministers, William Penn delivered a 
discourse, which appears to have had so 
powerful an effect, not only on the hearers, but 
on the preacher himself, that he felt constain- 
ed to kneel down and pray; being so affected 
by what had come unexpectedly from his own 
mouth. '' Great brokenness," says he, " fell 
upon all, and that which was before the world 
began was richly manifested in and among 
us.'' The nobleman and his wife then blessed 
their visitors, and the work which was in 
their hands. They considered, they said, their 
house as blessed for their sake, and expressed 
great thankfulness that they had lived to see 
them. 

Returning to Rotterdam, he held a public 
meeting, in which he took leave of the coun- 
try and the inhabitants, and earnestly exhorted 
them to grow up as a holy people. After this 
he proceeded to the Brill, and embarked on 
board the packet for Harwich. After landing, 



WILLIAM PENJf. 105 

he rode on horseback to London, stopping and 
preaching at several meetings on his way. 
Having staid a few days in London, for the 
same purpose, he went down to his seat at 
Worminghurst, where he arrived after an ab- 
sence of about three months and ten days, and 
after a journey in the service of the church of 
nearly three thousand miles. He had the 
pleasure, to use his own words, " to find his 
dear wife and family well. Blessed be the 
name of the Lord God of all the families of 
the earth !" And here, as a proof of the con- 
stantly pious frame of his mind, and of his 
constant thankfulness to the Divine Being for 
benefits already received, and of his reliance 
upon him for those to come, it must not be 
omitted, that on the afternoon of his arrival 
he assembled all his family for worship; thus 
making the first fruits of his domestic meeting 
an oblation to the Father of all mercies. 
This little meeting is described by him to have 
been a "sweet meeting, in which the divine 
presence made them glad together," and in 
which he was sensible, whatever sacrifices he 
had made by his journey, that " they were 
blessed who could cheerfully give up to serve 
the Lord." 



106 



THE LIFE OF 



CHAPTER XL 

Penn despatches 800 settlers for New Jersey — The Popish 
Plot — Persecutions of the Dissenters — Penn's petition to 
the House of Commons — He addresses the members — It 
is well received — His second Address — The desired bill 
passes the Commons — Penn's tract, entitled England's 
Great Interest in the choice of a New Parhament — Penn's 
exertions in behalf of Algernon Sydney. 




Great Fire at London. 



William Penn continued so active in his sta- 
tion as trustee for Byllinge, that he despatch- 
ed no less than eight hundred settlers, during 
the years 1677 and 8, for the new land, most- 



WILLIAM VKNN. 107 

ly Quakers and persons of property and re- 
spectability. 

But while he was occupied in the arrange- 
ment of these his foreign concerns, his attention 
was called^to the situation of affairs at liome, 
and particularly as they related to his own 
religious society. The great lire in London, 
and the fires on St. Margaret's hill, and in 
Southwark, having been attributed to the 
Roman Catholics, both the Parliament and 
people became so incensed against them, that 
the laws which were enacted against Roman 
Catholicism continued to be enforced with ex- 
traordinary rigour; and, to add to the public 
consternation, a design of the most mischievous 
and diabolical nature was said to have been 
discovered this year, 1678, which, on account 
of its intended effects, was denominated the 
Popish Plot. Under these circumstances 
the acts passed against Papists were now 
pressed to' their fullest extent; and hence it 
happened that the Dissenters, against whom 
these laws were never intended, became unex- 
pectedly the objects of them : for, wherever 
popery was suspected, it was sure to be put 
to the test. Now William Penn was con- 
sidered by many to be a Jesuit, and this cir- 
cumstance occasioned the Quakers, to whom 
he belonged, to be viewed in the same light; 
in consequence of which they experienced the 



108 THE LIFE OF * 

same severe prosecutions in the Exchequer as 
the Roman Catholics, for penalties of twenty 
pounds a month for absence from the national 
worship, or of two-thirds of their estate, al- 
though there was actually no law existing 
against them. The evil then had been carried 
to such an alarming length, that the Parlia- 
ment itself had become sensible of it, and took 
under its consideration a distinguishing clause 
in the bill, for the discrimination of Protestant 
Dissenters from papists, so that they who 
should take the oath, and subscribe the decla- 
ration therein contained, should not suffer by 
such laws. But this measure, though reasona- 
ble in itself, and sufficient as it related to other 
dissenters, was of no use to the Quakers; for, 
being unable on account of their religious 
tenets to swear at all, they had not even the 
door, which was intended them, for their es- 
cape. William Penn therefore drew up a pe- 
tition in their behalf, which was presented to 
both Houses of Parliament, in which he set 
forth their hard case, and requested that, in 
the discriminating clause then in agitation, 
the word of a Quaker might be taken instead 
of his oath, with this proviso, that if any one 
of that description should utter a falsehood on 
such an occasion, he should be liable to the 
same punishment as if he had taken a false 
oath. The petition having been presented. 



WILLIAM PENN. 109 

he was admitted to a hearing before a com- 
mittee of the House of Commons, when he ad- 
dressed the members of it as follows. 

^' If we ought to believe that it is our duty, 
according to the doctrine of the Apostle, to be 
always ready to give an account of the hope 
that is in us, and this to every sober and pri- 
vate inquirer, certainly much more ought we 
to hold ourselves obliged to declare with all 
readiness, when called to it by so great an 
authority, what is not our hope : especially 
when our very safety is eminently concerned 
in so doing, and when we cannot decline this 
discrimination of ourselves from Papists, with- 
out being conscious to ourselves of the guilt of 
our own sufferings; for so must every man 
needs be, who suffers mutely under another 
character than that which truly belongeth to 
him and his belief. That which giveth me a 
more than ordinary right to speak at this time, 
and in this place, is the great abuse which I 
have received above any other of my profes- 
sion; for of a long time I have not only been 
supposed a Papist, but a Seminary, a Jesuit, 
an emissary of Rome, and in pay from the 
Pope; a man dedicating my endeavours to the 
interests.and advancement of that party. Nor 
hath this been the report of the rabble, but 
.the jealousy and insinuation of persons other- 
wise sober and diicreet. Nay, some zealots 

10 



110 THE LIFE OF 

for the Protestant religion have been so far 
gone in this mistake, as not only to think ill of 
us, and decHne our conversation, but to take 
courage to themselves to prosecute us for a 
sort of concealed Papists; and the truth is, 
that what with one thing, and what with 
another, we have been the woolsacks and com- 
mon whipping-stock of the kingdom : all laws 
have been let loose upon us, as if the design 
were not to refortn but to destroy us; and 
this, not for what we are^ but for what we are 
710 1. It is hard that we must thus bear the 
stripes of another interest, and be their 
proxy in punishment; but it is worse, that 
some men can please thernselves in such a 
sort of administration. But mark : I would, 
not be mistaken. / am far from thinking 
it fit, because I exclaim against the injustice 
of whipping Quakers for Papists, that Papists 
should be whipped for their consciences. No: 
for though the hand, pretended to be lifted 
up against them, hath, I know not by what 
discretion, lighted heavily upon us, and we 
complain, yet we do not mean that any should 
take a fresh aim at them, or that they should 
come in our room,, for we must give the 
liberty we ask, and cannot be false to our 
principles, though it were to relieve our- 
selves; for we have good will towards all men, 
and would have none to suffer for a truly 



WILLIAM PENN. Ill 

sober and conscientious dissent on any hand. 
And I humbly take leave to add, that those 
methods against persons so qualified do not 
seenn to me to be convincing, or indeed ade- 
quate to the reason of mankind; but this I 
submit to your consideration. To conclude : 
I hope we shall be held excused of the men of 
that (the Roman Catholic) profession in giving 
this distinguishing declaration ; since it is not 
with design to expose them, but, first, to pay 
that regard we owe to the inquiry of the Com- 
mittee, and, in the next place, to relieve our- 
selves from the daily spoil and ruin which now 
attend and threaten many hundred families, by 
the execution of laws which, we humbly con- 
ceive, were never made against us." 

Such was the speech of William Penn, and 
such was to be expected from him, if he con- 
tinued faithful to his former principles. He had 
the courage to declare, and this before persons 
in authority, who could have no pleasant feel- 
ings towards those who should be well disposed 
to the Catholics, what he had maintained dur- 
ing his life, that it was unlaw /id to occasion 
others to suffer^ even Catholics themselves, 
on account of a. conscientious religious dis- 
sent. The true friend to liberty, who collects 
his notions concerning it from the pure and 
sacred fountains of truth and justice, feels no 
spirit of exclusion in his breast, but wishes that 



112 THE LIFE OF 

portion of it which he himself enjoys, to be 
communicated to others. Bold as the language 
of the foregoing address was, it yet offended 
no one : that which would have been of itself 
an offensive sentiment, was lost or overlooked 
in the nobleness of that which followed. The 
Committee heard it with extraordinary atten- 
tion; so much so, indeed, as to have made a 
more than ordinary impression on William 
Penn himself; in consequence of which, and by 
way of grateful return, thinking he could do 
no less than unbosom himself to them on cer- 
tain other subjects (by which he and they 
whose cause he had then pleaded, might be 
better known) he addressed them to this ef- 
fect :— 

" The candid hearing our sufferings have 
received from you, and the fair and easy en- 
tertainment you have given us, oblige me to 
add whatever can increase your satisfaction 
about us. I hope you do not believe 1 could 
tell you a lie. I am sure I should choose an 
ill time and place to tell it in; but I thank God 
it is now too late in the day for that. There 
are some here who have known me formerly. 
I believe they will say I was never that man; 
and it would be hard if, after a voluntary 
neglect of the advantages of this world, I should 
sit down in my retirement short of common 
truth. 



WILLIAM PEIVIV. lis 

" Excuse the length of my introduction ; it 
is for this I nnake it. I was bred a Protestant, 
and that strictly too. I lost nothing by time 
or study. For years, reading, travel, and ob- 
servations made the religion of my education 
the religion of my judgment. My alteration 
hath brought none to that belief; and though 
the posture I am in may seem odd, or strange 
to you, yet I am conscientious; and, till you 
know me better, I hope your charity will call 
it my unhappiness, rather than my crime. 1 
do tell you again, and here solemnly declare, 
in the presence of Almighty God, and before 
you all, that the profession I now make, and 
the society I now adhere to, have been so far 
from altering that Protestant judgment 1 had, 
that I am not conscious to myself of having 
receded from an iota of any one principle 
maintained by those first Protestants and Re- 
formers of Germany, and our own martyrs at 
home, against the see of Rome. On the con- 
trary, I do with great truth assure you, that 
we are of the same negative faith with the 
ancient Protestant church; and upon occasion 
shall be ready, by God's assistance, to make it 
appear that we are of the same belief as to 
the most fundamental positive articles of her 
creed too ; and therefore it is v>^e think it hard, 
that though we deny, in common with her, 
those doctrines of Rome so zealously protested 

10* 



114 THE LIFE OF 

against (from whence the name Protestant), 
yet that we should be so unhappy as to suffer, 
and that with extreme severity, by those very 
laws, on purpose made against the maintainers 
of those doctrines which we deny. We choose 
no sufferings; for God knows what we have 
already suffered, and how many sufficient and 
trading families are reduced to great poverty 
by it. We think ourselves an useful people; 
we are sure we are a peaceable people; 
yet, if we must still suffer, let us not suffer 
as Popish recusants, but as Protestant dissen- 
ters. 

*' But I would obviate another objection, 
and that none of the least that hath been made 
against us, namely, that we are enemies to 
government in general, and particularly dis- 
affected to that under which we live. I think 
it not amiss, but very reasonable, yea, my 
duty, now to declare to you, and this I do 
with good conscience in the sight of Almighty 
God, first, that we believe government to be 
God's ordinance; and next, that this present 
government is established by the providence 
of God and the law of the land; and that it is 
our Christian duty readily to obey it in all its 
Just iawSf and zv herein ive cannot comply 
through tenderness of conscience, in all such 
cases not to revile or conspire against the go- 
vernmenty but with Christian patience and 



WILLIAM PENN^. 115 

humility tire out all mistakes about us, and 
wait the better information of those who, we 
do believe, do as undeservedly as severely treat 
us; and I know not what greater security can 
be given by any people, or how any go- 
vernment can be easier from the subjects 
of it. 

" I shall conclude with this, that we are so 
far from esteeming it hard or ill that this House 
hath put us upon this discrimination, that on 
the contrary we value it, as we ought to do, 
an high favour, and cannot choose but see and 
humbly acknowledge God's providence there- 
in, that you should give us this fair occasion 
to discharge ourselves of a burthen we have 
not with more patience than injustice suffered 
but too many years under. And I hope our 
conversation shall always manifest the grateful 
resentment of our minds for the justice and 
civility of this opportunity; and so I pray God 
direct you.'' 

Nothing could have been offered more agree- 
able to the Committee at this juncture, than 
the explanation now given. It clearly laid 
down the principles thatactuated the Quakers, 
that is, — that although they made no sacrifice 
of their just convictions — although no threats 
could intimidate them, yet they did not dis- 
turb the harmony of society, or interrupt the 



116 THE LIFE OF 

progress of civil ejovernment by rebellion; but, 
satisfied with a refusal to the mandate of the 
magistrate when their consciences disapproved 
of it, they bore with fortitude the sufferings 
which followed, and left to their oppressors 
the feelings only of remorse for their conduct. 
A combination, the result of mere policy, 
could never have in it sufficient virtue to with- 
stand the ordeal to which it might be exposed 
on such an occasion. It must be a general 
harmony of action, arising out of a firm con- 
viction, that this is the line of conduct required 
as a Christian duty, and that no other was al- 
lowed. In this point of view, Christianity con- 
tains within itself the power of removing the 
great evils of wicked governments, without 
interrupting those other parts of their system 
which are of essential use to the good order, 
peace, and happiness of mankind. But to re- 
turn. The two speeches of William Penn 
made so favourable an impression on the 
Committee, that they agreed to insert a clause 
in the bill then in agitation, for relief in the 
case complained of. This clause they report- 
ed to the Commons, and the Commons actual- 
ly passed it; but a sudden prorogation of par- 
liament taking place before the bill could be 
read a third time in the Lords, rendered the 
clause useless. 

The ferment in the nation continuing as 



WfLLIAM PENPf. 117 

violent as ever, relative to the Popish Plot, 
men's minds, v^^hether Protestants or Catholics, 
were still unduly heated. In this situation of 
things, writs were issued for summoning a new 
parliament. This circumstance, which afford- 
ed an opportunity to parties to try their 
strength, involved the nation in new anxiety, 
and added to the heat already described. 
William Penn, therefore, felt himself called 
upon to become a writer again ; the result of 
which was, his publishing a pamphlet entitled 
*^ England's great Interest in the Choice of a 
New Parliament, dedicated to all her Free- 
holders and Electors." 

In this work he proposed, first, to pursue 
the discovery and punishment of the Popish 
plot ; to remove and to bring to justice those 
evil counsellors and corrupt and arbitrary 
ministers of state, who had been so industrious 
in advising the king to wrong measures, and 
in alienating his affections from his people; to 
detect and punish the pensioners of the former 
Parliament, such a breach of trust 07i their 
part beins^ treason against the fundamen- 
tal constitution of the governments to secure 
to the nation the execution of its ancient laws 
by others,among which should be one in favour 
o{ frequent parliaments — this being the only 
true check upon arbitrary viinisters, and 
therefore a measure which they always /ear- 



lis THE LIFE OF 

6flf, hated, and opposed; and to secure the 
people from Popery and slavery, and to ease 
all Protestant dissenters. He was of opinion 
that the King ought to be eased of all his bur- 
thensome debts, in case these terms were com- 
plied with. He explained, secondly, to the 
electors, the meaning of the words in the 
writs then issued. He laid before them their 
great fundamental rights and privileges, and 
then gave them his advice as to whom they 
ought both to choose and to reject. He would 
have no reputed pensioners, no officers at court, 
whose employment was at will or pleasure — 
no indigent, prodigal, or voluptuous person 
elected. He would have the old members re- 
turned only according to their former upright 
way of voting. Sincere Protestants he re- 
commended as essentially necessary ; and he 
hoped they w^ould fix their choice upon men of 
large and liberal principles, and such as would 
not rob their other Protestant brethren, be- 
cause they happened to differ from them in 
the doctrinal parts of the Christian religion. 

Soon after the publication of this work the 
elections commenced, and perhaps William 
Penn would have taken no farther part in 
them than writing the pamphlet just mention- 
ed, had there not been one man in the kingdom 
about whom he could not be indifferent at this 
crisis. This was the great Algernon Sydney. 



WILLIAM FENN. 119 

He had been acquainted with this distinguish- 
ed person for some time, and had loved his 
character, and now that the elections were 
begun, he could not control the wish he felt 
to serve one whose free spirit and noble ta- 
lents, he believed, would do good to his coun- 
try. Accordingly he went to Guildford, where 
colonel Sydney was then a candidate against 
Dalmahoy, one of the court party. He pro- 
cured him there several votes among those of 
his own religious profession. He accompanied 
him also to the hustings, where he interested 
himself with others, and while in the act of 
encouraging them he was stopped by the 
Recorder, who in order to make him odious, 
branded him publicly with the name o( Jesuit. 
Finding this attempt ineffectual, he would 
have tendered him oaths, but that it was shewn 
to be then illegal to do so. Frustrated in all 
his attempts, the Recorder had no other re- 
source left him but that of force, and he ac- 
tually turned him out of court. 

Although colonel Sydney had a majority of 
voices, Dalmahoy was returned ; the plea be- 
ing, that the Colonel was not a freeman of 
Guildford. The election being over, William 
Penn returned to Worminghurst ; and reflect- 
ing on all the base transactions which had 
taken place, both before and at the meeting 
now mentioned, he was of opinion that colonel 



120 



THE LIFE OF 



Sydney should petition against the return. — 
He was grieved to think that such a man, at 
such a time, should be excluded from the 
councils of his country. However, the Par- 
liament was not long seated before it was again 
dissolved. 




WILLIAM PENN. 121 



CHAPTER Xlf. 

Death of the Princess Elizabeth — Penn"s claims on the Bri- 
tish Government on account of his father's services and ex- 
penditures—The petition for a grant of territory in America 
— His motives for this proceeding — He obtains a charter for 
Pennsylvania — Substance of the charter — Penn relin- 
quishes the management of West New Jersey — Situation 
of the colony — Penn publishes his " Account of Pennsyl- 
vania," and the "Concessions" — Account of the " Con- 
cessions" — Penn's "Frame of Government" — It secures 
liberty of conscience — Settlers sent out to Pennsylvania 
with Colonel IMarkham — Penn's letter to Robert Vickri&. 

William Penn, in conjunction with his col- 
leagues, having agreed upon and executed 
every thing necessary for peopling West New- 
Jersey, having laid out and disposed of most 
of the lands, and fixed the political constitu- 
tion of the colony, had now little more to do 
than to extend to it his protecting vigilance. 

In this year, 1680, died his amiable friend, 
Elizabeth, Princess Palatine of the Rhine, with 
whom he had maintained a correspondence 
until her death. This event aifected him 
much. He had indeed a true regard for her; 
and two years after this, when he pubhshed 
his second edition of " No Cross, no Crown,'' 
he endeavoured to perpetuate her memory 
hj inserting her name there among those, both 

11 



123 THE LIFE OF 

of ancients and nnoderns, who, by their serious 
living and dying, had become the benefactors 
of mankind. 

After this he was occupied in winding up 
the affairs of his father with the government. 
His father had advanced large sums from time 
to time for the good of the naval service, and 
his pay had been also in arrear. For these 
two claims, including the interest upon the 
money due, government were in debt to him 
no less a sum than sixteen thousand pounds. 
William Penn was desirous therefore of closing 
the account. He was not, however, anxious 
for the money, but wished to take land in 
America in lieu of it; and therefore petitioned 
Charles the Second, that letters patent might 
be granted him for the same. The tract he 
solicited was to lie north of Maryland, and 
was to be bounded on the east by the river 
Delaware, on the west as Maryland was, and 
to extend northward as far as it was plantable. 
He was led to take this step from the noble 
motive of doing good, and not from any view 
of worldly interest. Having acted as a trus- 
tee of Byllinge for four years, he had seen 
what a valuable colony might be planted by 
a selection of religious families, who should 
emigrate and dwell together, and leave behind 
them the vicious customs and rotten parts, 
both of the political and religious constitution 



WILLIAM PENN. 123 

of the Old World. That such were the mo- 
tives which actuated him is abundantly evident, 
and they may be summed up in the general 
description given of them by Robert Proud, 
one of his modern historians, who had access 
to manvhundredsof his letters,and who spared 
no pains to develope his mind in the most ma- 
terial transactions of his life. " The views of 
William Penn," says he, ^'in the colonization 
of Pennsylvania were most manifestly the best 
and most exalted that could occupy the hu- 
man mind, namely, to render men as free and 
happy as the nature of their existence could 
possibly bear in their civil capacity, and, in 
their religious state, to restore them to their 
lost rights and privileges with which God and 
nature had originally blessed the human race. 
This in part he effected, and by those pieans 
which Providence in the following manner put 
into his hands, he so far brought to pass, as to 
excite the admiration of strangers, and to fix 
in posterity that love and honour for his me- 
mory, which the length of future time will 
scarcely ever be able to efface. 

The petition having been presented to the 
King, it was s'ent to the Privy Council, who, 
having considered of its contents, sent it to the 
Lords Commissioners of Trade and Planta- 
tions. Great opposition was made to it in both 
places, but at length the matter ended in fa- 



124 THE LIFE OF 

vour of William Penn ; and he was by charter, 
dated at Westminster, the 4th of March 1C81, 
and signed by writ of privy seal, made and 
constituted full and absolute proprietor of all 
that tract of land which he had solicited and 
marked out, and invested with power of rul- 
ing and governing the same. This charter 
consisted of twenty-three sections. In these 
the extent and boundaries of the new province 
were specified, and the free use of all ports, 
bays, rivers, and waters there, and of their 
produce, and of all islands, mountains, soils, 
and mines, and of their produce, were wholly 
granted and gjiven up to him. He was made 
absolute proprietary of the said territory, 
which was to be held in free and common soc- 
cage and fealty only, paying two beaver skins 
annually, and one-fifth of all the gold and sil- 
ver discovered to the King; and the said ter- 
ritory was to be called Pennsylvania after his 
own name. He had the power of making 
laws, with the advice, assent, and approbation 
of the freemen of the territory, assembled for 
the raising of money for public uses ; of ap- 
pointing judges and other officers; and of par- 
doning and reprieving, except in the cases of 
high treason and murder ; reprieve in these 
cases to be granted only till the pleasure of 
the King was known. All laws and ordi- 
nances made there were to be agreeable to 



WILLIAM PENIT. 125 

reason, and not repugnant to those of England, 
and duplicates of them transnaitted to the 
Privy Council within five years after they 
were passed: and if within six months after 
having been so transmitted, such laws were 
not pronounced void by the said Council, they 
were to be considered as having been approv- 
ed of, and to be valid. He had the power of 
dividing the province into towns, hundreds, 
and counties; of erecting and incorporating 
towns into boroughs, and boroughs into cities; 
of assessing, reasonably, and with the advice 
of the freemen assembled, custom on goods to 
be laden and unladen, and of enjoying the 
same, saving however to the King such impo- 
sitions as were and should be appointed by 
act of parliament. He was not to maintain 
correspondence with any king or power at 
war with England, nor to make war against 
any king or power in amity with the same. 
If any doubt should arise concerning the 
meaning of any expression in the charter, the 
interpretation of it was to be construed in a 
manner the most favourable to him and his 
heirs. 

William Penn, having now a colony of his 
own to settle, was obliged to give up his ma- 
nagement of West New Jersey ; but it was 
a matter of great satisfaction to him, that he 
had brought it from infancy to a state of man- 

11* 



126 



THE LIFE OF 



hood — to a state in which it could take care 
of itself. He had sent to it fourteen hundred 
people, of whom the adults were persons of 
high character. Towns and farms had risen 
up out of the wild waste; roads had been 
formed, a respectable magistracy established, 
and the very Indians turned into friends and 
benefactors. Such was the situation of West 
New Jersey when he took his leave of it, and 
therefore it was with less regret he left it to 
attend to his own concerns. 

The first thing he did after obtaining the 
charter, was to draw up "Some account of the 
Province of Pennsylvania in America, lately 
granted to William Penn under the Great 
Seal of England." To this account he annex- 
ed a copy of the charter, and also the terms 
on which he intended to part with the lands. 
He next drew up '' Certain Conditions or 
Concessions to be agreed upon by Williani 
Penn, proprietary and governor of the pro- 
vince of Pennsylvania, and those who may be- 
come adventurers and purchasers in the same 
province." They consisted of twenty articles, 
and among other things stipulated, on behalf 
of the Indians, that, as it had been usual with 
planters to overreach them in various ways, 
whatever was sold to them in consideration 
of their furs, should be sold in the public mar- 
ket-place and there suffer the test, whether 



WILLIAM PENX. 127 

good or bad: if good, to pass; if not good, not 
to be sold for good ; that the said native In- 
dians might neither be abused nor provoked. 
That no man should, by word or deed, affront 
or wrong any Indian, but he should incur the 
same penalty of the law as if he had commit- 
ted it against his fellow planter. And that all 
differences between planters and Indians should 
be ended by twelve men, that is, by six plan- 
ters and six Indians, that so they might live 
friendly together, preventing all occasions of 
heart-burnings and mischief. These stipula- 
tions in favour of the poor Indians will for 
ever immortalize the name of William Penn; 
for, soaring above the prejudices and customs 
of his time, he regarded them as human be- 
ings endued with reason, as men of the like 
passions and feelings with himself, and as per- 
sons, therefore, to whom the great duties of 
humanity and justice were to be extended, 
and who, in proportion to their ignorance, were 
the more entitled to his fatherly protection 
and care. 

As it was necessary, before any of the fu- 
ture settlers embarked for the New World, 
that they should know something of the 
constitution, political and religious, under 
which they were to live, William Penn ac- 
cordingly drew up a rough sketch of that great 
frame of government which he wished to be- 



128 THE LIFE OF 

come the future and permanent one of the 
province. It consisted of twenty-four articles, 
which were preceded by what he called his 
first or great Fundamental, and by which he 
gave them that Hberty of conscience denied 
to them in their own country. "In reverence," 
he says, *'to God, I do, for me and mine, de- 
clare and establish, that every person that 
doth and shall reside within my province, 
shall have and enjoy the free profession of 
his or her faith and exercise of worship to- 
wards God, in such way and manner as every 
such person shall in conscience believe most 
acceptable to the Supreme Being ; and as my 
understanding and inclinations have been much 
directed to observe and reprove mischiefs in 
government, so I have it now in my power 
to settle one, and purpose to leave myself 
and my successors no power of doing mischief, 
that the -will of one man may not hinder the 
good of a whole country .^^ 

Towards the latter end of this year, three 
vessels full of passengers set sail for Pennsyl- 
vania, and in one of them went Colonel Mark- 
ham, a relation of William Penn's, and who 
was to be his secretary when he arrived there. 
He was attended by several commissioners, 
whose object was to confer with the Indians 
respecting their lands, and to endeavour to 
make with them a solemn and eternal league 



WILLIAM rEN?f. 129 

of peace. They were also the bearers of a 
letter from William Penn to them, in which 
he promised to pay them soon a visit in per- 
son. 

About this time William Penn was elected 
a Fellow of the Royal Society; and among the 
letters which he wrote this year to private 
persons, the following is selected on account of 
the simplicity and beauty of expression, as 
well as holy feeling, which pervades it : it is 
addressed to Robert Vickris, a Quaker, and 
an eminent sufferer in that society. 

"Dear Friend, 
"In my dear and heavenly farewell to the 
city of Bristol, thou wert often upon my spirit, 
and the wishes of my soul are, that the Lord 
would abundantly fill thee with the consola- 
tions of his holy spirit, and that the days thou 
hast to pass on this side of the grave, thou 
mayest be fitting for his coming, that at what 
watch of the night soever it may be, thou 
mayest awake with his likeness, and enter the 
rest that is eternal. So the Lord more and 
more gather thee out of every visible, fading 
thing, and prepare thee for himself ! Dear 
Friend, be faithful to that appearance of God, 
and manifestation of the love of the Lord that 
visits thee. 'Tis his presence, not seen or felt 
of the wicked, that gathers and revives the 



130 



THE LIFE OF 



soul that seeks him. So the Lord be with 
thee, and remember into thy bosom the sin* 
cere love thou hast shewn to his Son and his 
friends ! I say no more, but in the Lord fare- 
well ! 

*'Thy affectionate friend, 

" William Penn." 




WILLIAM PENN. 13 1 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Death of Penn's mother — He publishes his " frame of go- 
vernment" — Preface of this instrument — Its chief pro- 
visions — Penn obtains a deed of release for Pennsylvania 
from the Duke of York — He obtains the tract of land call- 
ed the Territories, (Delavs^are) — Penn's letter to his wife 
and children — His interview and conversation with king 
Charles 11. 

This year, 1682, William Penn had the 
jielancholy duty to perform of paying the last 
earthly offices of respect to his mother, to 
whom he was tenderly and affectionately at- 
tached, and through whose assistance he had 
been enabled to follow the religious bent of 
his mind in the earlier years of his Hfe. The 
first thing he did, after this melancholy event, 
was to publish the Frame of Government 
or Constitution of Pennsylvania, mentioned in 
the preceding chapter, and to which he added 
a noble preface, containing his own thoughts 
upon the origin, nature, objects and modes of 
government ; a preface, indeed, so beautiful, 
and replete with such wise and just sentiments, 
that it would be an act of injustice to with- 
hold it from the reader. 

'* When the great and wise God had made 
the world, of all his creatures it pleased hin» 



132 THE LIFE OF 

to choose Man his deputy to rule it : and to 
fit him for so great a charge and trust, he 
did not only qualify him with skill and power, 
but with integrity to use them justly. This 
native goodness was equally his honour and 
his happiness; and, whilst he stood here, all 
went well : there was no need of coercive or 
compulsive means; the precept of divine love 
and truth in his bo=om was the guide and 
keeper of his innocency. But lust, prevailing 
against duty, made a lamentable breach in it; 
and the law, that had before no power over 
him, took place upon him and his disobedient 
posterity, that- such, as luould not live corn- 
formably to the holij law ivithin, should 
fall under the reproof and correction of the 
just law without^ in a judicial administra- 
tion. 

"This the Apostle teaches us in divers of 
his epistles. * The law,' says he, * was added 
because of our transgressions.' In another 
place, ' knowing that the law was not made 
for the righteous man but for the disobedient 
and ungodly, for sinners, for unholy and pro- 
fane, for murderers,' and others. But this is 
not all; he opens and carries the matter of 
government a little farther: ' Let every soul 
be subject to the higher powers, for their is 
no power but of God. The powers that be 
are ordained of God: whosoever therefore re- 



WILLIAM PENN. 133 

sisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of 
God : for rulers are not a terror to good doers 
but to evil. Wilt thou not then be afraid of 
the power? Do that which is good, and thou 
shalt have praise of the same. He is the 
minister of God to thee for good. Wherefore, 
ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, 
but for conscience sake.' 

*' This settles the divine right of govern- 
ment beyond exception, and that for two ends: 
first, to terrify evil doers; secondly, to cherish 
those that do well; which gives government a 
life beyond corruption, and makes it as dura- 
ble in the world as good men shall be, so that 
government seems to me a part of religion it- 
self, a thing sacred in its institution and end : 
for if it does not directly remove the cause, it 
crushes the effects of evil, and is, as such, 
though a lower, yet an emanation of the same 
divine Pov^er that is both author and object 
of pure religion; the difference lying here, 
that the one is more free and mental, the 
other more corporeal and compulsive in its 
operations, and a terror only to evil doers; 
government itself being otherwise as capable 
of kindness, goodness, and charity, as a mere 
private society. They weakly err, who think 
there is no other use of government than cor- 
rection, which is the coarsest part oj*it. Daily 
experience tells us that the care and regula- 

12 



1 34 THE LIFE OF 

tion of many other affairs, more soft and daily 
necessary, make up the greatest part of go- 
vernment; and which must have followed the 
peopling of the world, had Adam never fallen, 
and will continue among men on earth under 
the highest attainments they may arrive at by 
the coming of the blessed second Adam, the 
Lord from Heaven. Thus much of government 
in general as to its rise and end. 

" For particular frames and models, it will 
become me to say little, and, comparatively, I 
will say nothing. My reasons are, first, that 
the age is too nice and difficult for it, there be- 
ing nothing the wits of men are more busy and 
divided upon. 'Tis true they seem to agree 
in the end, to wit, happiness, but in the means 
they differ, as to divine, so to this human feli- 
city; and the cause is much the same — not 
always want of light and knowledge, but 
want of using them rightly. Men side 
with their passions against their reason; 
and their sinister interests have so strong a 
bias upon their minds, that they lean to 
them against the good of the things they 
know. 

" Secondly, 1 do not find a model in the 
world, that time, place, and some singular 
emergencies have not necessarily altered; nor 
is it easy to frame a civil government that shall 
serve all places alike. 



WILLIAM PENPf. 135 

" Thirdly, I know what is said by the seve- 
ral admirers of monarchy, aristocracy, and 
democracy, which are the rule of one, of a few, 
and of many, and are the three common ideas 
of government when men discourse on that 
subject. But I choose to solve the contro- 
versy with this small distinction, and it be- 
longs to all three : Any government z-s/ree/o 
the people under it, whatever be the frame, 
where the laws rule and the people are a 
party to those laws-, and more than this is 
tyranny, oliq-archy, or confusion. 

'^ But, lastly, when all is said, there is hard- 
ly one frame of government in the world so 
ill designed by its founders, that in good hands 
would not do well enough; and story tells us, 
that the best in ill ones can do nothing that is 
great and good: witness the Jewish and Ro- 
man states. Governments, like clocks, go 
from the motion men give them; and as go- 
vernments are made and moved by men, so by 
them they are ruined too. Wherejore go- 
vernments rather depend upon men, than 
men upon goverwrnents. Let men he good, 
and the government cannot be bad. If it 
be ill, they will cure it. But if men be bad, 
let the government be never so good they will 
endeavour to warp and spoil it to their turn. 
I know some say, let us have good laws, and 
no matter for the men that execute them. 



136 THE LIFE OF 

But let them consider, that though good laws 
do well, good men do better; for good laws 
may want good men, and be abolished or in- 
vaded by ill men; but good men will never 
want good laws, nor suffer ill ones. 'Tis true, 
good laws have some awe upon ill ministers, 
but that is w^here these have not the power 
to escape or abolish then, and where the peo- 
ple are generally wise and good : but a loose 
and depraved people (which is to the ques- 
tion) love laws and administration like them- 
selves. That, therefore, which makes a good 
constitution must keep iti namely, men of wis- 
dom and virtue — qualities, that, because they 
descend not with worldly inheritances, must 
be carefully propagated by virtuous educa- 
tion oj youth, for which after-ages will owe 
more to the care and prudence of founders 
and the successive magistracy, than to their 
parents for their private patrimonies, 

" These considerations of the weight of go- 
vernment, and the nice and various opinions 
about it, made it uneasy to me to think of 
publishing the ensuing Frame and Conditional 
Laws, foreseeing both the censures they will 
meet with from men of different humours and 
engagements, and the occasion they may give 
of discourse beyond my design. 

" But next to the power of necessity, which 
is a solicitor that will take no denial, this in- 



WILLIAM PENPf. 137 

duced me to compliance : that we have, with 
reverence to God and good conscience to men, 
to the best of our skill, contrived and compos- 
ed the Frame and Laws of this Government 
to the great end of government to support 
power in reverence with the people, and to 
secure the people from the abuse oj power, 
that they may be free by their just obedi- 
ance, and the magistrates honorable for 
their just administration; for liberty with- 
out obediance is confusion, and obedience 
witliout liberty is slavery. To carry this 
evenness is partly owing to the constitution, 
and partly to the magistracy. Where either of 
these fail, government will be subject to con- 
vulsions; but where both are wanting, it must 
be totally subverted : then where both meet, 
the government is like to endure, which I 
humbly pray and hope God will be pleased 
to make the lot of this Pennsylvania. Amen." 
The Frame which followed this preface, con- 
sisted of twenty-four articles; and the laws 
annexed were forty. By the frame, the go- 
vernment was placed in the governor and 
freemen of the province, out of whom were to 
be formed two bodies; namely, a provisional 
council and a general assembly : the office of 
the former being to propose and prepare bills, 
to see that the laws were executed, and to pre- 
serve the peace and safety of the province; 

12* 



ISS THE LIFE OF 

and of the latter, to pass or reject all bills 
brought to them from the governor and provi- 
sional council, by a plain Yes or No; but to 
have no dehberative povs^er. Both were to be 
elected annually^ and by ballot. With re- 
spect to the laws, it will be necessary at pre- 
sent only to observe of them, that they related 
to whatever may be included in the " good go- 
vernment of the Province." 

William Penn having published his Frame 
of Government, obtained next from the duke 
of York a deed of release for Pennsylvania, to 
prevent all future claim of his Royal Highness 
or his heirs on the Province. This deed was 
signed on the twenty-first of August, 1682, 
and granted out of a special regard to the 
memory and eminent services performed by 
Admiral Sir William Penn to his Majesty and 
to his Royal Highness, and for the good will 
which his said Royal Highness bore to his son, 
William Penn. He also obtained from the 
duke of York his right, title, and interest in 
another tract of land, contiguous to Pennsylva- 
nia, at that time inhabited by Dutch and 
Swedes, and afterwards known by the name 
of the Territories, (now the State of Delaware.) 

Having now done every thing which he 
judged to be necessary for the prosperity and 
security of the colony previous to his embark- 
ation, his mind, as the period of hii departure 



WILLIAM PENN^. 139 

drew nigh, began to be seriously affected about 
bis wife and family, and particularly about 
their spiritual welfare, during an absence the 
length of which he could not foresee. He re- 
solved, therefore, to put down whatever oc- 
cured to him for the regulation of their con- 
duct, and to leave it to them in the shape of a 
letter. As it is very beautiful on account ot 
the simplicity and patriarchal spirit in which 
it is written, and truly valuable on account of 
its contents, it is presented to the reader as 
well worthy of perusal. 

** My dear Wife and Children, 
^' My love, which neither sea, nor land, nor 
death itself can extinguish nor lessen towards 
you, most endearedly visits you with eternal 
embraces, and will abide with you for ever : 
and may the God of my life watch over you, 
and bless you, and do you good in this world 
and for ever! — Some things are on my spirit to 
leave with you in your respective capacities, 
as I am to one a husband and to the rest a 
father, if I should never see you more in this 
world. 

" My dear wife ! remember thou wast the 
love of my youth, and much the joy of my life; 
the most beloved, as well as most worthy of all 
my earthly comforts: and the reason of that 
love was more thy inward than thy outward 



140 THE LIFE OF 

excellences, which yet were many. God 
knows, and thou knowest it, I can say it was 
a match of providence's making ; and God's 
image in us both was the first thing, and most 
amiable and engaging in our eyes. Now I 
am to leave thee, and that without knowing 
whether I shall ever see thee more in this 
world, take my counsel into thy bosom, and 
let it dwell with thee in my stead while thou 
livest. 

" First: let a fear of the Lord, and a zeal 
and love to his glory, dwell richly in thy heart; 
and thou wilt watch for good over thyself and 
thy dear children and family, that no rude, 
light, or bad thing be committed, else God will 
be offended, and he will repent himself of the 
good he intends thee and thine. 

*' Secondly : be diligent in meetings for wor- 
ship and business; stir up thyself and others 
herein; — it is thy duty and place : and let 
meetings be kept once a day of the family to 
wait upon the Lord, who has given much time 
for ourselves: and, my dearest, to make thy 
family-matters easy to thee, divide thy time, 
and be regular : it is easy and sweet : thy re- 
tirement will afford thee to do it ; as in the 
morning to view the business of the house, and 
fix it as thou desirest, seeing all be in order ; 
and that by thy counsel all may move, and to 
thee render an account every evening. The 



WILLIAM PENN. 141 

time for work, for walking, for meals, may be 
certain, at least as near as may be: and grieve 
not thyself with careless servants; they will 
disorder thee ; rather pay them and let them 
go, if they will not be better by admonition: 
this is best to avoid words, which I know 
wound the soul, and offend the Lord. 

"Thirdly: cast up thy income, and see what 
it amounts to, daily; by which thou mayest be 
sure to have it in thy sight and power to keep 
within compass: and I beseech thee to live low 
and sparingly till my debts are paid; and then 
enlarge as thou seest it convenient. Remem- 
ber thy mother's example, when thy father's 
pubiic-spiritedness had worsted his estate 
(which is my case). I know thou lovest plain 
things, and art averse to the pomps and vani- 
ties of the world; — a nobility natural to thee. 
I write not as doubtful, but to quicken thee, 
for my sake, to be more vigilant herein; know- 
ing that God will bless thy care, and thy poor 
children and thee for it. My mind is wrapt up 
in a saying of thy father's, 'I desire not riches, 
but to owe nothing-,' and truly that is wealth, 
and more than enough to live is a snare attend- 
ed with many sorrows. I need not bid thee be 
humble, for thou art so; nor meek and patient, 
for it is much of thy natural disposition: but 1 
pray the be oft in retirement with the Lord, 
keep dominion over thyself, and let thy chil- 



142 THE LIFE OF 

dren, good meetings, and friends, be the plea- 
sure of thy life. 

" Fourthly : and now, my dearest, let me 
recommend to thy care my dear children, 
abundantly beloved of me, as the Lord's bless- 
ing, and the sweet pledges of our mutual and 
endeared affection. Above all things, endea- 
vour to breed them up in the love of virtue, 
and that holy plain way of it which we have 
lived in, that the world in no part of it get 
into my family. I had rather they were home- 
ly than finely bred, as to outward behaviour ; 
yet 1 love sweetness mixed with gravity, and 
cheerfulness tempered with sobriety. Reli- 
gion in the heart leads into this true civility, 
teaching men and women to be mild and cour- 
teous in their behaviour — an accomplishment 
worthy indeed of praise. 

"Fifthly: next breed them up in a love 
one of another : tell them it is the charge I 
leave behind me. For their learning be libe- 
ral. Spare no cost: for by such parsimony all 
is lost that is saved; but let it be useful know- 
ledge, not cherishing a vain or idle mind. — 
Rather keep an ingenious person in the house 
to teach them, than send them to schools, too 
many evil impressions being commonly receiv- 
ed there. Be sure to observe their genius, and 
do not cross it as to learning: but let their 
change be agreeable, and all their diversions 



WILLIAM FESN. 145 

have some bodily labour in them. I choose 
not they should be married to earthly cove- 
tous kindred. I need not wealth, but sufficien- 
cy: a country life and estate I like best for my 
children. I prefer a decent mansion, with an 
hundred pounds per annum, before ten thou- 
sand pounds in London, or such like place, in 
a way of trade. In fine, endeavour to breed 
them dutiful to the Lord, and his fear will 
grow up with them. Teach a child (says the 
wise man) the way thou wilt have him to 
walk, and when he is old he will not forget it. 
Next, in obedience to thee, and that for con- 
science sake; liberal to the poor, pitiful to the 
miserable, and kind and humble to all. 

'^And now, my dear children, hear and fol- 
low my counsel, that you may be blessed here 
and happy hereafter. 

*'In the first place, remember your Creator 
in the days of your youth. To do this in the 
youthful days seek after the Lord, that you 
may find him; that you may be kept from the 
evil of the world; for, in age it will be harder 
to overcome the temptations of it. Eschew 
the appearance of evil, and love and cleave to 
that in your hearts which shews you evil from 
good; for it isjhcji light of Christ that he has 
given you for your salvation. You are now 
beginning to live. What would some give for 
your time? Oh ! I could have lived better were 



144 THE LIFE OF 

I, as you, in the flower of youth. Therefore 
love and fear the Lord, keep close to meet- 
ings, and delight to wait on the Lord God of 
your father and mother, among his despised 
people, as we have done ; and count it your 
honour to be members of that society, and 
heirs of that living fellowship which is enjoy- 
ed among them; for the experience of which 
your father's soul blesseth the Lord for ever. 

" Next : be obedient to your dear mother, 
a woman whose virtue and good name is an 
honour to you : for she hath been exceeded 
by none in her time for her plainness, integri- 
try, industry, humanity, virtue and good un- 
derstanding; — qualities not usual among wo- 
men of her worldly condition and quahty. — 
Therefore honour and obey her, my dear 
children, as your mother, and your father's 
love and delight ; nay, love her too, for she 
loved your father with a deep and upright love, 
choosing him before all her many suitors. And 
though she be of a delicate constitution and 
noble spirit, yet she descended to the utmost 
tenderness and care for you, performing the 
painfullest acts of service to you in your infan- 
cy, as a mother and a nurse. 

"Be sure to live within compass; borrow 
not, neither be beholden to any. Ruin not 
yourselves by kindness to others ; for that ex- 
ceeds the due bounds of friendship, neither 



WILLIAM PENN. 145 

will a true friend expect it. Small matters I 
heed not. 

*^ Know well your in-comings, that your 
out-goings may be better regulated. Love 
not money nor the world : use them only and 
they will serve you; but if you love them you 
serve them, and will debase your spirit as 
well as offend the Lord. Pity the distressed, 
and hold out a hand to help them : it may be 
your case; and the Lord will mete to you again 
as you mete to others. 

"Be humble and gentle in your conversation; 
of few words I charge you : but always per- 
tinent when you speak, hearing out before 
you attempt to answer, and then speaking as 
if you would persuade, not impose. Affront 
none, neither revenge affronts ; but forgive, 
and you shall be forgiven of your Heavenly 
Father. In making friends consider well 
first, and when you are fixed be true, not 
wavering by reports, nor deserting in afflic- 
tion, for that becomes not the good and vir- 
tuous. Avoid flatterers, for they are thieves 
in disguise ; they are the worst of creatures ; 
they lie to flatter, and they flatter to cheat; 
but the virtuous, though poor, love, cherish, 
and prefer. 

" Make your conversation with the most 
eminent for wisdom and piety ; and shun all 
wicked men as you hope for the blessing of 

13 



146 THE LIFE OF 

God, and the comfort of your father's living 
and dying prayers. Be sure you speak no 
evil of any one, no, not of the meanest ; much 
less of your superiors, as magistrates, guar- 
dians, tutors, teachers, and elders in Christ. 
Let the fear and service of the living God be 
encouraged in your houses ; and that plain- 
ness, sobriety, and moderation in all things as 
becometh God's chosen people. 

^'As for you who are likely to be concern- 
ed in the government of Pennsylvania, I do 
charge you before the Lord God, and his holy 
angels, to be lowly, diligent- and tender, fear- 
ing God, loving the people, and hating cov- 
etousness. Let justice have its impartial 
course, and the law free passage. Though to 
your loss, protect no man against it ; for you 
are not above the law, but the law above you. 
Live therefore the lives you would have the 
people live, and then you have right to punish 
the transgressor. Keep upon the square, for 
God sees you : therefore do your duty, and be 
sure you see with your own eyes, and hear 
with your own ears. Entertain no lurchers, 
cherish no informers, use no tricks, fly to no 
devices to support or cover injustice ; but let 
your hearts be upright before the Lord, trust- 
ing in him above the contrivances of men, 
and none shall be able to hurt or supplant 
you. 



WILLIAM PENX. 147 

"If you thus behave yourselves, and so be- 
come a terror to evil doers and a praise to 
them that do well, God, my God, will be with 
you in wisdom and a sound mind, and make 
you blessed instruments in his hand for the 
settlementsof some of those desolate parts of 
the world, which my soul desires above all 
worldly honours and riches, both for you that 
go and you that stay; you that govern, and 
you that are governed ; that in the end you 
may be gathered with me to the rest of God. 

" So, my God, that hath blessed me with 
his abundant mercies, both of this and the 
other and better life, be with you all, guide 
you by his counsel, bless you and bring you 
to his eternal glory ! that you may shine, my 
dear children, in the firmament of God's pow- 
er with the blessed spirits of the just, that 
celestial family, praising and admiring him, 
the God and Father of it, for ever! For there 
is no god Hke unto him; the God of Isaac and 
of Jacob, the God of the prophets, the Apos- 
tles, and Martyrs of Jesus, in whom I live for 
ever. 

"So, farewell to my thrice beloved wife and 
children! Yours, as God pleaseth in that which 
no waters can quench, no time forget, nor dis- 
tance wear away, but remains for ever. 

"Wm. Penn." 



148 THE LIFE OF 

When he was about to sail from England to 
Pennsylvania, Penn went to take his leave of 
the king, and the following conversation oc- 
curred: — "Well, friend William," said Charles, 
**I have sold you a noble province in North 
America ; but still I suppose you have no 
thoughts of going thither yourself?" — " Yes, 1 
have," replied William, '-and I am just come 
to bid thee farewell." — "What! venture your- 
self among the savages of North America! Why 
man, what security have you that you wdll not 
be in their w'ar-kettle in two hours after set- 
ting foot on their shore?" — "The best security 
in the world," replied Penn. — "I doubt that, 
friend William; I have no idea of any security 
against those cannibals but in a regiment of 
good soldiers, with their muskets and bayonets. 
And mind, I tell you beforehand, that with 
all my good will for you and your family, to 
\vhom I am under obligations, I will not send 
a soldier with you." — " I want none of thy 
soldiers," answered William. "I depend upon 
something better than thy soldiers.'*— The king 
wished to know what that was. — "Why I de- 
pend on themselves — on their own moral sense 
— even on that grace of God which bringeth 
salvation, and which hath appeared unto all 
men." — " I fear, friend William, that that 
grace has never appeared to the Indians of 
North America." — "Why not to them as well 



WILLIAM PEN IV. 149 

as to all others'?" — *^ If it had appeared to 
them," said the king, "they would hardly have 
treated my subjects so barbarously as they 
have done." — ^' That is no proof to the con- 
trary, friend Charles. Thy subjects were the 
aggressors. When thy subjects first went to 
North America, they found these poor people 
the fondest and kindest creatures in the world. 
Every day they would watch for them to come 
ashore, and hasten to meet them, and feast 
them on their best fish and venison and corn, 
which was all they had. In return for this 
hospitality of the savages, as we call them, 
thy subjects, termed Christians, seized on their 
country and rich hunting-grounds for farms for 
themselves! Now is it to be wondered at that 
these much injured people should have been 
driven to desperation by such injustice ; and 
that, burning with revenge, they should have 
committed some excesses?' — ^' Well then, 1 
hope, friend William, you will not complain 
when they come to treat you in the same man- 
ner." — «' I am not afraid of it," said Penn. — 
*'Aye! how will you avoid it. You mean to 
get their hunting-grounds too, I suppose'?'^ — 
•' Yes, but not by driving these poor people 
away from them."— "No, indeed! How then 
will you get their lands?" — «' 1 mean to buy 
their lands of them!" — "Why man, you have 
already bought them of me."---''Yes, I know 

13* 



150 THE LIFE OF 

I have, and at a dear rate too; but I did it on- 
ly to get thy good will, not that thou hadst 
any right to their lands." — '^ What, man, no 
right to their lands?" — ^' No, friend Charles, 
no right at all. What right hast thou to their 
lands'?" — " Why the right of discovery ; the 
right which the Pope and Christian Kings have 
agreed to give one another." — "The right of 
discovery! a strange kind of right indeed. — 
Now suppose, friend Charles, some canoe-loads 
of these Indians, crossing the sea, and discover- 
ing thy island of Great Britain, were to claim 
it as their own, and set it up for sale over thy 
head, what wouldst thou think of it?" — "Why, 
why, why," replied Charles, "I must confess I 
should think it a piece of great impudence in 
them." — " Well, then, hovv canst thou, a 
Christian, a Christian Prince, too, do that 
which thou so utterly condemnest in these 
people whom thou callest savages? Fes, friend 
Charles, and suppose that these Indians, on 
thy refusal to give up thy island of Great 
Britain, were to make war on thee, and hav- 
ing weapons more destructive than thine, were 
to destroy many of thy subjects and to drive 
the rest away; wouldst thou not think it hor- 
ribly cruel?" — The king assenting to this with 
strong marks of conviction, William proceed- 
ed — "Well, then, friend Charles, how can I, 
who call myself a Christian, do what I abhor 



WILLIAM PENN. 



151 



even in heathens? No, I will not do it. But 
I will buy the right of the proper owners,even 
of the Indians themselves. By doing this 1 
shall imitate God himself in justice and mer- 
cy, and thereby insure his blessing on my 
colony, if I should ever live to plant one in 
North America." 




152 THE LIFE OF 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Penn sails from Deal — Lands at Newcastle — Is joyfully re- 
ceived — Takes legal possession of the country — Addresses 
the magistrates — Renews their commissions — Proceeds to 
Upland — First General Assembly — The Assembly passes 
the Act of Union and the Act of Settlement — Character 
of its other Acts Penn's interview with Lord Balti- 
more — Penn's Treaty with the Indians — He lays out 
the plan of Philadelphia Arrival of two thousand set- 
tlers — Penn's arrangements for the international go- 
vernment of the colony — He meets the Council and the 
Assembly — Charter amended — Penn journeys through 
the province — Appoints a provincial council — Thomas 
Loyd president — Penn sails for England, after declining 
an impost intended for his own benefit — Arrives in Eng- 
land and has an interview with the King and the Duke 
of York. 

Having taking an afTectionaie leave of his 
wife and children, he preceeded to Deal, ac- 
companied by several friends, and embarked 
on board the ship Welcome, for the New 
World. About six weeks after leaving the 
Downs, he came in sight of the American 
coast, and, proceeding up the Delaware ri- 
ver, landed at Newcastle. He was received 
by the Dutch, Swedes, and English, with 
equal demonstrations of joy and respect. The 
day after his arrival he called together the 
people. Having taken legal possession of the 
country, according to due form, in their pre- 



WILLIAM PEiYS". 153 

sence,he made a speech to the old magistrates, 
in which he explained to them the design of 
his coming, the nature and end of government, 
and of that particularly which he came to 
estabHsh. He then assured all present that 
they should have the full enjoyment of their 
rights, both civil and religious ; and recom- 
mended them to live in sobriety, and in peace 
and amity with each other. After this he 
renewed the magistrates' commissions. 

tie next visited New York, and having re- 
turned to Newcastle, proceeded to Upland to 
call th.e first General Assembly. This was a 
memorable event, and to distinguish it by some 
marked circumstance, he determined to 
change the name of the place, and denomina- 
ted it Chester, '^ in remembrance of the City 
from whence his friend and companion, Pear- 
son, came." At length the Assembly met. 
It consisted of an equal number for the Pro- 
vince and for the Territories, according to 
the sixteenth article of the Frame of Govern- 
ment. At this Assembly an Act of Union was 
passed, annexing the Territories to the Pro- 
vince, and likewise an Act of Settlement in 
reference to the Frame of Government. All 
the laws agreed upon in England were, with 
some alterations, and with the addition of nine- 
teen others, passed in due form. Among these 
laws the following are remarkable. All per- 



154 THE LIFE OF 

sons who confessed the one almighty and eter- 
tal God to be the Creator, Upholder and Ruler 
of the world, and who held themselves ob- 
liged in conscience to live peaceably and just- 
ly in society, were in no ways to be molested 
for their religious persuasion and practice, nor 
to be compelled at any time to frequent any 
religious place of ministry whatever. All 
those, however, in the service of Government, 
and all members elected to serve in the Pro- 
visional Council, and General Assembly, and 
all electors, were to be such as professed faith 
in Jesus Christ. All pleadings, processes, and 
records in courts of law were to be as short as 
possible. All fees of law were to be moderate, 
and to be hung: up on tables in the courts. 
All persons wrongfully imprisoned or prose- 
cuted were to have double damages against 
the informer or prosecutor. With respect to 
the criminal part of these laws, one new prin- 
ciple was introduced by William Penn, who 
was of opinion, that though the deterring of 
others from committing offences must continue 
to be the great principle to be acted upon, 
and indeed only end of punishment, yet, in a 
community professing itself Christian, the re- 
formation of the offender was to be insepara- 
bly connected with it. Hence he made but 
two capital offences; namely, murder, and 
treason against the state : and hence also all 



WILLIAM PENN. 155 

prisons were to be considered as workshops, 
where the offenders might be industriously, 
soberly, and morally employed. 

The Assembly having sat three days, broke 
up; but, before they adjourned, they returned 
their most grateful thanks to the Governor. 

No sooner was the Assembly adjourned, 
than Penn hastened to Maryland to vindicate 
that part of its proceedings which was neces- 
sarily offensive to Lord Baltimore, and, if 
possible, effect with this nobleman an amicable 
adjustment of their respective boundaries. 
Lord Baltimore being proprietor of Maryland, 
conceived himself to have a just claim to that 
portion of Penn's grant, called the Territories 
or Lower Counties, on Delaware, now consti- 
tuting the State cf Delaware. He relied on 
the priority and apparent distinctness of his 
own title; while Penn defended a later grant 
on a plea that had been furnished to him by 
the Committee of Plantations in England — 
that it had never been intended to confer on 
Lord Baltimore any other territory but such 
as was inhabited by savages only, at the date 
of his charter; and that the language of his 
charter was therefore inconsistent with its 
intention, in so far as it served to authorize 
his claim to any part of the territory previous- 
ly colonized by the Swedes or Dutch. 

At the interview which took place between 



156 



THE LIFE OF 



the two proprietors, each of them tenaciously- 
adhered to what, with more or less reason, he 
considered his own; and neither could sug^gest 
any mode ofadjustment save a total relinquish- 
ment of the other's pretensions. To avoid the 




Peiin's interview with Lord Baltimore. 

necessity of recurring again to this unpleas- 
ant controversy, we shall here overlook inter- 
vening events to relate, that it was protracted 
for some years without the slightest approach 
to mutual accommodation; that King Charles, 
to whom both parties had complained, vainly 
endeavoured to prevail with the one or the 
other to yield ; and that James the Second, 



WILLIAM PENN. 157 

soon after his accession to the throne, caused 
an act of council to be issued for terminating 
the dispute by dividing the subject matter of 
it equally between them. By this arrange- 
ment, Penn obtained the whole of the Swedish 
and Dutch settlements, and in effect, preserv- 
ed all that he or the Duke of York had ever 
been in possession of. These districts, annex- 
ed, as we have seen, to his original acquisition, 
received the name oithe Three Lower Coun- 
ties^ or the Territories^ in contradistinction 
to the remainder of the union, which was 
termed the Three Upper Counties or Pro- 
vince of Pennsylvania. 

The time now arrived when William Penn 
was to confirm his great Treaty with the In- 
dians. His religious principles, which led him 
to the practice of the most scrupulous morali- 
ty, did not permit him to look upon the King's 
patent, or legal possession according to the 
laws of England, as sufhcient to establish his 
right to the country, without purchasing it by 
fair and open bargain of the natives, to whom 
only it properly belonged : and this was the 
time when, by mutual agreement between him 
and the Indian Chiefs,a treaty of eternal friend- 
ship and bargain of sale was to be publicly 
ratified between them. He proceeded there- 
fore, accompanied by his friends, consisting of 
men, women, and children, to Coaquannock, 

14 



158 THE LIFE OF 

the place where Philadelphia now stands. On 
his arrival he found the Sachems and their 
tribes assembling. They were seen in the 
woods as far as the eye could reach, and look- 
ed terrible both on account of their numbers 
and their arms. The Quakers were but a 
handful in comparison, and without any wea- 
pons, so that terror and dismay must have come 
upon them, had they not confided in the right- 
eousness of their cause. 

Near the place of meeting there was an 
elm-tree of prodigious size, to which the lead- 
ers on both sides repaired, approaching each 
other under its umbrageous shade. William 
Penn was attired in his usual apparel, and 
distinguished only by wearing a sky blue sash 
round his waist. On his right-hand was Colo- 
nel Markham, and on his left his friend Pear- 
son, after whom followed a train of Quakers, 
Before him were carried various articles of 
merchandize, which, when he approached the 
Indians, were spread upon the ground. He 
held a roll of parchment, containing the con- 
firmation of the treaty of purchase and amity, 
in his hand. One of the Sachems, who was 
the chief of them, then put upon his own head 
a chaplet, in which appeared a small horn, 
the emblem of kingly power, and signifying 
that the place was made sacred, and the per- 
sons of all present inviolable; on which the 



WILLIAM PENN. 159 

Indians threw down their arms, and seated 
themselves on the ground around their chiefs. 
The principal Sachem then announced to 
William Penn, by means of an interpreter, 
that they were ready to hear him. 

Having been thus called upon, he said that 
they were then met upon the broad pathway 
of good faith and good will, so that no advan- 
tage was to be taken on either side, but all 
was to be openness, brotherhood, and love. — 
That the Great Spirit, who made him and 
them, and who ruled the Heaven and the 
Earth, knew that he and his friends had a 
hearty desire to live in peace and friendship 
with them, and to serve them to the utmost 
of their power. Their object was not to do 
injury, but to do good ; for which reason, and 
as it was not their custom to use hostile wea- 
pons against their fellow-creatures, they had 
come unarmed. He then unrolled the parch- 
ment, and explained to them, by means of the 
interpreter, the conditions of the purchase, and 
the words of the compact then made for their 
eternal union ; paid them for the land, and 
made them many presents from the merchan- 
dize which had been spread before them. 
After which, he laid the roll of parchment on 
the ground, observing that the ground should 
be common between them, and taking it up 
again,presented it to the chief Sachem,desiring 



160 THE LIFE OF 

him and the other Sachems to preserve it for 
three generations, that their children might 
know what had passed between them. The 
Indians then hound themselves solemnly, ac- 
cording to the custom of their country, to live 
in love with William Penn and his children, as 
long as the sun and moon should endure. 




Win. Penn's Treaty with the Indians, 



Thus ended this famous Treaty, allowed, by 
the concurrent testimony of historians, to be 
the most glorious of any in the annals of the 
world; and which was the only one between 
the savages of America and the Christians 
that was not ratified by an oath, and that was 



WILLIAM PENN". 161 

never broken. Penn has taught us to respect 
the lives and properties of the most unenlight- 
ened nations. His conduct to the poor In- 
dians was so engaging, his justice so conspi- 
cuous, and the counsel and advice which he 
gave them were so evidently for their advan- 
tage, and made such deep impressions on their 
understandings, that he became thereby so 
much endeared to them, that his name and 
memory will never be effaced from their re- 
collections while they continue a people. — 
Here it is the mind rests with pleasure upon 
modern history, and feels some kind of com- 
pensation for the disgust, melancholy, and 
horror, which the whole of it, but particularly 
that of the European settlements in America, 
inspires. 

After the treaty William Penn returned to 
Chester, and having now purchased fairly the 
land of the natives, he ordered a regular sur- 
vey of it; during which he pitched upon Coa- 
quannoc as the most noble and commodious 
site for his new city. 

It was situated between the rivers Schuyl- 
kill and Delaware, and bounded by them on 
both sides, and on a third by their confluence. 
The junction of two such rivers, both of them 
navigable, the great width and depth of the 
latter, so admirably adapted for commerce, 
the existence of a stratum of brick-earth on 

14* 



162 



THE LIFE OF 




Wm. Penn laying out the plan of Philadelphia. 

the spot, and immense quarries of building 
stone in the neighbourhood, determined him 
in the choice of it; and he gave his new city a 
name which he had long intended for it, viz. 
Philadelphia, [in token of that principle of 
brotherly love, upon which he had come to 
these parts : which he had evinced to Dutch, 
Swedes, Indians, and others, alike, and which 
he wished might for ever characterize his new 
dominions.] 

Soon after this, a number of vessels arrived 
in the Delaware from England, bringing up- 
wards of two thousand passengers, mostly Qua- 



WILLIAM PExVX. 163 

kers; that here, as on an Elysian shore, 'Hhey 
might lead a quiet and peaceable life, free 
from the wickedness and profligacy of the Eu- 
ropean world, and that they might worship 
their Creator according to the dictates of their 
conscience." William Penn may be said to 
have raised a colony at once in his new do- 
mains, having now a population of six thousand 
in the Province and Territories. He divided 
the land into counties, appointed sheriffs to 
each, and issued writs for the election of mem- 
bers both to sit in the Council and General 
Assembly, in conformity with the constitu- 
tion, as early as possible in the spring. Ac- 
cordingly, on the 10th of March, 1684, he 
met his Council, and the Assembly on the 
12th. This latter body chose for its speak- 
er Thomas Wynne, and then proceeded to 
business. During three weeks which they 
sat, much business was gone through, several 
bills were framed and passed, and outlines 
agreed upon for the amendment of the old 
Charter; after which the members returned to 
their habitations. 

William Penn having despatched the pub- 
lic business of the colony, and having super- 
intended the works of his new city, went on 
a journey of discovery into the Province, as 
he wished to become better acquainted with 
the inhabitants of the soil; to know something 



164^ THE LIFE OF 

more distinctly of their language, manners, 
genius, and character; and of the minerals, 
woods, and other produce of the country. This 
he effected to his entire satisfaction, and re- 
turned to Philadelphia to enjoy the proud con- 
templation of his rapidly increasing city. But 
he was not permitted long to do so, for accounts 
having reached his ear, across the Atlantic, of 
the persecution which his friends in England 
continued to suffer, gave him such great un- 
easiness, and so worked upon his benevolent 
feelings, as to produce in him the resolution 
of returning to the Mother Country; as he in- 
dulged the hope that he might become an in- 
strument, by using his personal influence with 
the King, of relieving in some degree, if not 
putting a stop to, the sufferings of his oppressed 
brethren. Having determined, therefore, to 
leave America for a while, he signed a com- 
mission, empowering the Provisional Council 
to act in the government in his stead, and ap- 
pointed Thomas Loyd, a Welchman, the pre- 
sident. Soon after this he sailed, — to the re- 
gret of the whole colony, who found in him a 
kind friend and impartial Governor ; and to 
the regret of the Indians, who had been over- 
come by his love, care and concern for them. 
And here it will be proper to mention a cir- 
cumstance, which places his generosity and 
disinterestedness in the noblest and most ex- 



WILLIAM PENX. 



165 



ailed point of view ; for, when the first Assem- 
bly offered him an impost on a variety of goods 
both imported and exported, which in a course 
of years would have become a large revenue 
in itself, he nobly refused it: thus evincing 
that his object in coming among the colonists 
was not that of his own aggrandizement, but 
for the promotion of a public good. 

After a passage of seven weeks he landed 
in England, and found *'his dear wife and poor 
children well, to the overcoming of his heart 
because of the mercies of the Lord to them." 
It also appears by the same letter that he had 
already been at Court. " He had seen the 
King, and the Duke of York, who had been 
very kind to him, and he hoped the Lord 
would make way for him in their hearts to 
serve his suffering people." 




166 THE LIFE OF 



CHAPTER XV. 

Death of Charles II — Accession of James II — Friendship 
subsisting between Penn and James II — Passage from 
Gerard Croesse — Penn's successful intercession for John 
Locke — Penn is suspected of being a Papist — His letter 
to Doctor Tillotson — Tillotson's apology — Penn's success- 
ful appeal in behalf of the Dissenters — Unsatisfactory ac- 
counts from the Province — Penn appoints a new Coun- 
cil — Accession of William Prince of Orange to the throne 
of England — Unpleasant situation of Penn — He is exam- 
ined before the Lords of the Council — Is discharged — Act 
of Toleration passed — Penn is again arrested and brought 
before the Lords of the Council — His examination — He 
is again discharged — Proposes to embark for America — 
Is again arrested — Takes private lodgings in London — 
Is deprived ot his government of Pennsylvania — His noble 
conduct under this reverse — His government restored — 
Death of William Penn's wife — Penn's second marriage — 
Death of his son Springett Penn — Visit to Ireland — Second 
Voyage to America — Arrival — Treaty with the Indians — 
Penn recalled to England by the state of affairs — He 
grants his last charter to the Province — Returns to Eng- 
land — Death of WiUiam III — Accession of Queen Anne 
— His favour at court — Literary pursuits — Penn's law- 
suit with Ford — He is a prisoner in the Fleet— He mort- 
gages the Province of Pennsylvania — He is released and 
restored to his family — His health fails — He offers to sell 
his province to the British government. 

William Penn had not been long in Eng- 
land before the King died of an apoplexy, and 
was succeeded by his brother, who then be- 



WILLIAM PENJf. 167 

came James the Second. It may be recol- 
lected that the latter, when Duke of York 
had evinced towards William Penn, on more 
occasions than one, especial marks of his royal 
favour, in consequence of his father, Admiral 
Penn, having: recommended his son, when on 
his death-bed, to the care and protection of 
his Royal Highness. From this period an ac- 
quaintance had grown up between them, and 
during the intimacy which followed, however 
William Penn might have disapproved, as he 
did, of the religious opinions of the Duke, he 
was attached to him from a belief that he was 
a friend to liberty of conscience. Entertaining 
this opinion concerning him, he conceived it to 
be his duty, now that he had become King, to 
renew his intimacy with him, and this in a 
stronger manner than ever, that he might foy- 
ward the great object for which he had cross- 
ed the Atlantic; namely, the relief of those un- 
happy persons who were suffering on account 
of their religion. The following passage from 
Gerard Croesse enables us to judge of the es- 
timation which William Penn was held in by 
James, and that he used his influence with 
the King solely in doing good. 

^'William Penn was in great favour at Court, 
and hence his house and gates were daily 
thronged by a numerous train of clients and 
suppliants desiring him to present their ad- 



168 THE LIFE OF 

dresses to His Majesty. There was sometimes 
Hvo hundred and more there. The King 
loved him as a sincere and entire friend, and 
imparted to him many of his secrets and coun- 
sels He often honoured him with his compa- 
ny in private, and that not for one but many 
hours together, delaying to hear the best of 
his Peers who at the same time were waiting 
for an audience." 

Among the first apphcations which he made 
to James, was one the remembrance of which 
will always do honour to his memory. It was 
in behalf of the venerable John Locke, who 
had followed his patron, the Earl of Shafts- 
bury into Holland, when he fled there to avoid 
the father persecutions of his own Court. His 
application was successful; at least the King 
permitted Penn to inform Locke that he should 
be pardoned. But though this reception, and 
the use he made of his interest at Court, ena- 
bled him to serve many, yet they were atten- 
ded with great disadvantages to himself; for 
the whole nation was at this time in a fer- 
ment. The people, considering James the 
Second as a professed Papist, were filled with 
the most alarming apprehensions; and know- 
ing that William Penn was so frequently with 
him, that his doors were daily crowded with 
strangers, of whose errands they were ignorant, 
they began to suspect that he was of the same 



WILLIAM PENN. 169 

religious persuasion as the King. Hence he 
was now openly talked of as a professed Papist 
also; and the term Jesuit was revived with 
ten-fold energy, so that he could not go out of 
doors without meeting with abuse. Among 
those who entertained this opinion of him was 
that excellent man Dr. Tillotson, afterwards 
Archbishop of Canterbury. William Penn, 
upon hearing this, was much hurt, and the 
more so, because he had a personal regard for 
the Doctor, and because he knew the high 
estimation in which he was held by the nation. 
He wrote to him, therefore, the following let- 
ter: — 

" Being often told that Dr. Tillotson should 
suspect me, and so report me, a Papist, I think 
a Jesuit, and being closely pressed, I take the 
liberty to ask thee if any such reflection fell 
from thee. If it did, I am sorry onel esteem- 
ed ever the first of his robe should so unde- 
servedly stain me, for so I call it; and if the 
story be false, 1 am sorry they should abuse Dr. 
Tillotson as well as myself without a cause. 
Now, though I am not obliged to this defence, 
and that it can be no temporizing now to make 
it; yet that Dr. Tillotson may see how much I 
value his good opinion, and dare own the truth 
and myself at all times, let him be confident 
1 am no Roman Catholic, but a Christian,whose 

15 



170 THE LIFE OF 

creed is the Scripture, of the truth of which 
I hold a nobler evidence than the best church 
authority in the world. 1 add no more, but 
that 1 abhor two principles in religion, and 
pity those that own them : — The first is obe- 
dience upon authority without conviction^ 
and the other the destroying them that differ 
from me for God^s sake. 

Thy Christian true friend, 

"Wm. Fenn. ' 

This letter produced from Dr. Tillotson an 
open, candid, and polite reply, acknowledging 
that he had been led into the mistake by the 
misrepresentations of wicked and designing 
people, and apologizing for the injurious sus- 
picion. (A. D. 1686.) 

He now ushered into the world a work call- 
ed, "A Persuasive to Moderation to Dissent- 
ing Christians, in Prudence and Conscience, 
humbly submitted to the King and his great 
Council," which, v^^hen it came out, was said 
to have had a considerable effect upon both ; 
for very soon after its appearance in public, a 
proclamation was issued by James for a gene- 
ral pardon to all those who were then in pri- 
son on account of their consciences. Instruc- 
tions were accordingly given to liberate all 
persons of this description ; and the result was, 
that, of Quakers onlv, not less than ixvelve 



WILLIAM PENxV. 471 

hundred persons were restored to their fami- 
lies and friends, many ot \:'hom had been in 
confinement for years. That this happy event 
mi^ht have sprung in part, or, as far as the 
Council had any hand in it, from the "Persua- 
sive to Moderation," as was then believed by 
many, is not improbable ; but certain it is, as 
far as the King was concerned, that it was to 
be ascribed in a great measure to the personal 
solicitations of William Penn. It has been 
usually supposed, that, when the King wished 
for toleration to his subjects, he had it princi- 
pally in view to ease his favourites the Ro- 
man Catholics, knowing that, if a general law 
were made to that effect, they would feel the 
benefits of it in common with others ; and that 
it was on their account solely that he was de- 
sirous of the measure. But Penn was not of 
this opinion, and it was his firm belief, that, 
though James the Second was himself a Papist, 
he was yet a friend to religious liberty. 

Having staid in England only for the pur- 
pose of seeing religious liberty established by 
a law of the land, and having witnessed the 
happy eifects resulting from this measure, it 
yet appears that VViUiam Penn had, about this 
time, (A. D. 1691) serious cause to be grieved 
on other accounts ; for, in a letter to the be- 
fore-mentioned Thomas Loyd, he complained 
that the Provisional Council had neglected 



172 THE LIFE OF 

and slighted his letters; and that he had reli- 
giously consecrated his labour, but that it was 
neither valued nor understood by them. He 
also stated, that his quit-rents were then at 
least of the value of 500/. per annum, and then 
due, though he could not get a penny. " God 
is my witness, I am above six thousand pounds 
out of pocket, more than ever I saw by the 
Province ; and you may throw in my pains, 
cares, and hazard of life, and leaving of my 
family and friends to serve them." By 
another letter written to James Harrison, his 
agent in Pennsylvania, the above particulars 
are confirmed, and also that he began to be 
embarrassed for want of the remittances which 
the Council had promised him, and which was 
one of the causes which kept him from Penn- 
sylvania; adding, " there is nothing my soul 
breathes more for in this world, next my dear 
family's life, than that I may see my poor Pro- 
vince again — but I cannot force my way hence, 
and see nothing done on that side inviting." 
To remedy these and other matters, it appears 
that, after having taken into consideration the 
conduct of the Council, he resolved to allow 
them no longer to have the executive power 
in their hands, as he conceived that one rea- 
son of their tardiness and negligence might be 
their number ; great bodies moving with less 
celerity than smaller. He determined there- 



WILLIAM PENN, 173 

fore to reduce the executive to five persons, 
and made out a fresh commission accordingly. 

About this time, too, the nation being in 
a ferment on account of the arbitrary pro- 
ceeding of James, the Prince of Orange land- 
ed at Torbay, and, as is well known, was re- 
ceived with open arms by the country at large, 
and in process of time advanced to the sove- 
reignty of the realm, (A. D. 1688.) 

The state of mind which William Penn must 
have now experienced may be imagined. He 
lost by the flight of James, one, who with all 
his political failings had been his firm friend. 
He lost, too, what most deeply afilicted him, 
the great patron on whom he relied for the 
support of that plan of religious toleration for 
which he had abandoned his infant settlement, 
at a time when his presence was of great im- 
portance to its well-being. Neither had he 
any prospect that all he had laboured for or 
brought about, would not, on account of the 
prejudices of the times, be utterly undone. — 
Fallen too from power, and from the protec- 
tion which power gave him, he was left ex- 
posed to the popular indignation as a Papist 
and Jesuit, and as one who had aimed to es- 
tablish arbitrary power and popery in the 
kingdom. To return to America, though she 
presented to him a peaceful asylum, he dared 
not ; for that would have led persons to con- 

15* 



174 THE LIFE OF 

elude that he had been guilty of what had 
been laid to his charge. To stay in England 
was dangerous. Conscious, however, of his 
own innocence, he resolved to remain where 
he was, and to go at large as before, following 
those occupations by which he thought he 
could best promote the good of his fellow crea- 
tures. 

But it was not long before he felt the effect 
of the political change which had taken place; 
for, walking in Whitehall, he was sent for by 
the Lords of the Council, who were then sit- 
ting. Here he underwent an examination. 
In reply to some questions which were put to 
him, he protested that '* he had done nothing 
but what he would answer before God and all 
the princes in the world; and that he loved his 
country and the Protestant religion above his 
life, and had never acted against either; that 
all he had ever aimed at in his public endea- 
vours was no other than what the Prince him- 
self had declared for; that King James had 
always been his friend, and his father's friend; 
and that in gratitude he himself was the King's, 
and did ever, as much as in him lay, influence 
him to his true interests." In consequence 
of this open and manly declaration, and that 
nothing appeared against him, he was dis- 
charged. 

The following year, however, he had the 



WILLIAM PENiV. 175 

satisfaction of seeing the great Act of Tolera- 
tion passed by King, Lords, and Commons. It 
is true, indeed, that this noble Act did not 
come up to the extent of his own wishes, and 
yet how vast the change ! All dissenters were 
now excused from certain penalties, if they 
would only take the oaths to government. 
There was a more particular exemption in 
the Act to the Quakers for the same purpose. 
— Here then was an end of those vexatious 
arrests, painful imprisonments, and deaths in 
bonds, which had afflicted and desolated the 
country for years. This must have been a 
most gratifying consideration to one to whose 
labours the Act itself was in part owing; for, 
in the course of his numerous publications, he 
had examined the question thoroughly, and 
diffused light concerning it. He had been the 
means of bringing over many of his country- 
men, and these in the legislature, to its sup- 
port. He had held up pictures of individual 
suffering, as it occurred in all its varied shapes, 
to public view. He had appealed to reason 
and humanity; and it had clearly appeared, 
that while the indulgence granted by James 
continued, the nation was in a state of unex- 
ampled quiet, and that its interest had been 
greatly promoted by an extraordinary diffu- 
sion of industry, prosperity, and happiness. 
This great Act having passed, William Penn 



176 THE LIFE OF 

thought of returning to America, having had 
the pleasure to find that it had become so po- 
pular, except among some of the clergy, and 
that it was likely to maintain its ground. But, 
while occupied with the things necessary to 
be done preparatory to his voyage, he was 
again arrested by a body of military, and 
brought before the Lords of the Council. The 
charge then against him was, that be was 
holding a traitorous correspondence with the 
late king, who was then in France. Upon 
this he desired to appeal to King William in 
person. His request was granted; the King 
and Council being together. A letter was 
then produced, which had been written to him 
by James, and intercepted by Government, in 
which he *' desired him to come to his assist- 
ance, and to express to him the resentments 
of his favour and benevolence." The first 
question put to Penn was, why King James 
wrote to him? He answered that it was im- 
possible for him to prevent the king from writ- 
ing to him if his Majesty chose it." He was 
then questioned as to what resentments these 
were, which James seemed to desire of him. 
He answered, "he knew not; but he supposed 
the king meant that he should endeavour his 
restoration. Though, however, he could not 
avoid the suspicion of such an attempt, he could 
avoid the guilt of it. He confessed he had 



WILLIAM PENN. 



177 



loved King James in his prosperity, and he 
could not hate him in his adversity ; yes, he 
loved him yet for the many favours he had 
conferred on him, though he could not join 
with him in what concerned the state of the 
kingdom. He owned, again, that he had been 
much obliged to the king, and that he was 
willing to repay his kindness by any private 
service in his power; but that he must observe 
inviolably and entirely that duty to the state, 
which belonged to all the subjects of it ; and, 
therefore, that he had never the wickedness 
even to think of endeavouring to restore him 
that crown which had fallen from his head; so 
that nothing in that letter could in any wise 
fix guilt upon him." This defence, which was 
at once bold and explicit, had its due weight 
with the king, who felt constrained to dismiss 
him ; and he was permitted accordingly to 
withdraw, and to go at large as before. The 
violence, however, of party animosity at that 
time made his noble and generous conduct be 
looked upon as a barefaced espousal of King 
James's cause, for whom most Protestants 
thought it a no less crime than high treason to 
profess a friendship. 

Being once more at liberty, his voyage be- 
gan again to occupy his attention, as he now 
considered that there was no security for his 
person in England. No sooner had he been le- 



178 THE LIFE OF 

gaily and honourably acquitted of one charge, 
than he was arrested upon another. Under 
these circumstances he looked to his depar- 
ture for America with pleasure and delight. 
Having accomplished in a great degree the 
principal object for which he crossed the At- 
lantic, he longed now with the utmost anxiety 
for a quiet retreat in Pennsylvania. He used, 
accordingly, double diligence for that purpose. 
He was aheady far advanced in his prepara- 
tions for the voyage. The vessel had been 
taken up which was to convey him there. — 
Numbers of persons were ready to accompany 
him. The Secretary of State had also even 
gone so far as to appoint him a convoy, and 
it appeared now as if he had only to take leave 
of his numerous friends and to embark. But, 
alas! how short-lived and transitory are some- 
times our best hopes. In an instant all his 
happy dreams, all his expectations came to 
nothing : for, a wretch of the name of Fuller, 
one whom parliament had occasion afterwards 
to declare a cheat and impostor^ had come 
forward with an accusation against him upon 
oath, so that messengers had been sent to ap- 
prehend him at a funeral which he was at* 
tending the day before, but came too late. 
Thus his voyage was entirely stopped for the 
present. 

William Penn, after this new accusation, 



WILLIAM FBNN. 179 

determined upon retirennent. To have gone 
to Pennsylvania merely with a view of ma- 
king his escape, would have been useless, for 
he would have been equally amenable there 
to the laws of England. But to have gone 
there, even if no laws could have reached him, 
would have been disojraceful. It would have 
been, while such an accusation hung over his 
head, to lose his reputation, and of course his 
influence and future usefulness in the Pro- 
vince. To have delivered himself up volunta- 
rily, on the other hand, into the power of the 
magistracy, would have been to sacrifice his 
health in a prison; and even then, after a fourth 
acquital, there would have been no security 
that some profligate wretch would not have 
accused him again, and this in the midst of 
expensive operations for another voyage. He 
judged it, therefore, best to retreat from the 
world for awhile. By this resolution he did not 
wantonly throw himself in the v^^ay of the go- 
vernment, nor did he endeavour to fly from it. 
If those in the administration chose to press 
another trial, they might easily discover and 
seize him, as his person was generally known. 
Accordingly he took private lodgings in Lon- 
eon, where he devoted himself to study and 
religious exercises, and where he was occasion- 
ally visited by some friends. 

He had been but a little more than six 



180 H THE LIFE OF 

weeks in his retirement, when he received in- 
telligence from America, which, on the very 
first perusal, gave him the most serious miea- 
sinessj as he foresaw from it the unhappy con- 
sequence which soon afterwards resulted to 
himself. Those who were at the head of af- 
fairs in England were no strangers to the dis- 
orders which had taken place in his govern- 
ment during his absence ; and, as he himself 
had become obnoxious to them, they had ta- 
ken care to make already the most of them to 
the King. They affirmed that Pennsylvania 
was in a state of ruin, and that nothing could 
save it but taking away the government from 
William Penn. Not a moment, they said, was 
to be lost in resorting to this expedient ; and 
so rapidly was this notion disseminated, and 
industriously impressed upon the King and 
Queen, that by a commission granted to Co- 
lonel Fletcher, the governor of New York, to 
take upon himself the government of Pennsyl- 
vania, William Penn was, very soon after the 
news had arrived, deprived of all authority 
over the ^awe,— and this before he had time to 
explain himself on the subject, or to offer any 
reasons in bar of the appointment which had 
taken place. (A. D. 1692.) 

One may more readily conceive than de- 
scribe the feelings which must have sprung up 
in his mind, when the news of his cruel mea- 



WILLIAM PENN. * 181 

sure was conveyed to him. All his hopes and 
prospects of giving to the world a pattern, as 
he had imagined, of a more perfect govern- 
ment and a more virtuous and happy people, 
were now over. His fortune might now be 
considered, not as having been prudently and 
benevolently expended in America, but as 
having been absolutely thrown away. Re- 
moved from the high station of a governor of 
a province, he was now a persecuted exile. 
Dashed down from the pinnacle, as it were, of 
eminence and of favour in his native country, 
he was now living between privacy and a gaol. 
Add to this, that his name had become a name 
of public reproach. He had fallen in the es- 
teem of a considerable number of those even 
of his own society, — in the esteem of those 
whom he "had loved abovd his chiefest joy." 
He had become, therefore, a sort of outcast of 
society. Had he been a mere earthly-mind- 
ed man, all had been wretchedness and de- 
spair. But, happily for him, he found resour- 
ces equal to the pressure which bore upon him. 
He still kept his reliance on the great rock 
which had hitherto supported him. He knew 
that human hfe was full of vicissitudes; but he 
beheved that they who submitted with pa- 
tience and resignation to the divine will, would 
not be ultimately forsaken ; and that to such 
even calamities worked together for their good. 

16 



182 THE LIFE OF 

Having lost his Government, one of the 
most important questions that occurred to him 
was, not how he could regain it, but what it 
became him to do that the Province might 
suffer as little as possible by the change. A 
new governor had already been appointed, 
who, knowing nothing of his plans, might in- 
troduce a system which would counteract, if 
not sap the foundation, of his own, and thus 
prevent all the good he had expected from the 
latter. It appears that, after having consi- 
dered the subject, he determined upon going 
to Pennsylvania, though it is evident he could 
only have gone there as a private person. He 
knew, however, that even in this capacity he 
could be useful. But alas ! he had become so 
embarrassed in his circumstances, that he 
knew not how to get over. " His expenses," 
he says, in a letter written at this time to cer- 
tain friends jointly in Pennsylvania, "had 
been great in King James's time, and his losses 
great in this King's time, the one being at 
least seven thousand, and the other four thou- 
sand, pounds ; besides four hundred and fifty 
pounds a-year totally wasted in Ireland. He 
suggested, therefore, to his friends to find out 
a hundred persons in the province who would 
each of them lend him one hundred pounds, 
free of interest, for four years. He would 
give them his bond for the loan. The money, 



WILLIAM PENN. 183 

then, would be ten times more to him than 
the same sum at any other time, and he would 
never forget the kindness of those who should 
lend it. In this case he would bring his wife 
and family over with him. " 

He determined to continue in retirement, 
at least until he should receive an answer to 
the foregoing letter; and it is remarkable that 
he was never disturbed in it by constable, 
magistrate, or any other officer of justice. — 
But a few months had scarcely elapsed before 
two events occurred, which are as pleasing to 
relate as they were unexpected by him, and 
which overwhelmed him with joy. The first 
of these was, a release from his exile : the 
second, his restoration to the government of 
Pennsylvania. (A. D. 1693.) This happy 
change in his affairs took place in consequence 
of certain persons of rank and influence, who 
had admired his character and intimately 
known him, thinking it was time to interest 
themselves in his behalf. They considered it 
as a disgrace to the Government, that a man 
who had lived so exemplary a life, and who 
had been so distinguished for his talents, disin- 
terestedness, generosity, and pubhc spirit, 
should be buried in ignoble obscurity; as there 
w^as nothing they conceived, in his conduct, 
as far as it had been investigated, which could 
lead impartial persons to suppose that he was 



184 THE LIFE OF 

in any degree guilty of the charges exhibited 
against him. In all parts of the kingdom wer? 
those whom he had benefitted by his private 
liberality. In America he had sacrificed a 
princely fortune for a public good. All his ac- 
tions, however mistaken he might be in the 
opinion of some, were so consistent with each 
other, as to afford a demonstration that they 
proceeded from fixed principles, and these of 
the purest kind. These considerations opera- 
ted particularly upon the Duke of Bucking- 
ham, and the Lord Somers, Rochester, and 
Sidney, who went in a body to the King, "and 
represented to his Majesty his case not only 
as hard but oppressive.'' "They themselves," 
they added, had long known William Penn, 
and they had never known him to do an ill 
action, but many good ones." King William 
answered, that "William Penn was his old ac- 
quaintance as well as theirs, and that he might 
now follow his business as freely as ever." — 
Upon this they pressed his Majesty to be gra- 
ciously pleased to restore him to his govern- 
ment of Pennsylvania. The King replied that 
he would take it into his consideration; and 
the result was that it was thought but just 
and reasonable to comply with their request. 
Accordingly, an instrument was made out, by 
the royal order, by which he was restored to 
his government; and the way in which this 



WILLIAM PENN. 185 

instrument was worded was particularly cred- 
itable to William Penn, for it was declared 
therein, that the disorder and confusion in- 
to which the province had fallen ("which had 
been the pretence for dispossessing him) had 
been occasioned entirely by his absence from 
it. 

Having thus passed through four fiery or- 
deals, he had come out of them only to reas- 
cend to honour, and to attain to a more exalt- 
ed rank and character in society. Being now 
at liberty to follow his inclinations, his thoughts 
joyfully reverted towards Pennsylvania ; but 
the measure of his earthly affliction was not 
yet full. The health of his wife, which had 
long been in a declining state, began now ra- 
pidly to give way. It was but too apparent 
that the great trials, difficulties and afflictions 
under which her husband had laboured, must 
have affected her mind, and thus become the 
original cause of her complaint. To him, there- 
fore, it was a great gratification to think that, 
before her spirit fled to other mansions, she 
knew of his honourable restoration to society. 
To her his acquittal must have given indescri- 
bable pleasure. The news of it must have 
been as balm to the wounds of sickness. Suf- 
fice it to say, that in about a month after this 
event she died. (Dec. A. D. 1693.) 

It cannot be expected, from the very na- 

16* 



186 THE LIFE OF 

ture of society, that the wives of individuals 
should go down to posterity with an illustrious 
name, except they have distinguished them- 
selves in a puMic manner. Those females 
who fulfil their domestic duties, even in the 
most exemplary manner, are seldom recorded 
but in the breasts of their own families. Men 
are looked upon as the great movers in life ; 
and these find a place in biographical history, 
when their wives, who have perhaps exhibi- 
ted far more brilliant characters, have gone in 
silence to the grave : and yet a few words may 
be said in behalf of Gulielma Maria Penn, 
taken from '*An account of the blessed end of 
his dear Wife, Gulielma Maria Penn," writ- 
ten by her husband, and from which the follow- 
ing passages are selected. 

" Atone of the many meetings," says Wil- 
liam Penn, ''held in her chamber, we and our 
children and one of our servants being only 
present, in a tender and living power she broke 
out as she sat in her chair, 'Let us all prepare, 
not knowing what hour or watch the Lord 
Cometh. O, I am full of matter. Shall we 
receive good, and shall we not receive evil 
things at the hands of the Lord ? 1 have cast 
my care upon the Lord. My expectation is 
wholly from him.' About three hours before 
her end, a relation taking leave of her, she 
said, ' My dear love to all Friends;'' and, lift- 



WILLIAM PENN". 187 

ing up her dying hands and eyes, prayed to 
the Lord to preserve and bless them." 

"Soon afterwards, causing all to withdraw, 
we were half an hour together, in which we 
took our last leave, saying all that was fit 
upon that solemn occasion. She continued 
sensible, and did eat something about an hour 
before her departure, at which time our chil- 
dren and most of my family were present. — 
She quietly expired in my arms, her head 
upon my bosom, wdth a sensible and devout re- 
signation of her soul to the Almighty God. I 
hope I may say she was a public as well as a 
private loss; for she was not only an excellent 
wife and mother, but an entire and constant 
friend, of a more than common capacity, and 
greater modesty and humility ; yet most equal 
and undaunted in danger ; religious, as well as 
ingenious, without aifectation ; an easy mis- 
tress, and kind neighbour, especially to the 
poor; neither lavish nor penurious; but an 
example of industry, as well as other virtues: 
therefore our great loss, though her own eter- 
nal gain." 

His new situation put a complete stop, at 
least for the present, to his intention of going 
to America. He had just lost his wife. His 
children were without a mother. He felt it, 
therefore, his duty to stay at home for a while, 
that he might comfort and instruct them; that 



188 THE LIFE OF 

he might act the part of a double parent; and 
that he might make those arrangements which 
the late melancholy event had rendered ne- 
cessary in his domestic concerns. 

Wm. Penn was married a second time (July 
5, 1695) at Bristol, to Hannah, daughter of 
Thomas Callowhill, and grand-daughter of 
Dennis Hollister, an eminent merchant of that 
city. "She was said to be a religious young 
woman of excellent qualities," says Proud, in 
his History of Pennsylvania, " with whom he 
lived during the rest of his life ; and had issue 
by her, four sons and one daughter." 

In February 1696, Penn's eldest son by his 
former wife, named Springett, died at Worm- 
inghurst, in Sussex, of a consumption, in the 
twenty-first year of his age. He was a most 
hopeful and promising young man; and he 
died in the assured hope of a joyful resurrec- 
tion in Christ. 

After this, Penn paid a religious visit to his 
friends, the Quakers, in Ireland, accompanied 
by John Everett and Thomas Story ; who 
were likewise two eminent preachers in that 
society; and he wrote several new treatises in 
vindication of his religious principles, till the 
year 1699, when he began to make prepara- 
tions to revisit his province of Pennsylvania. 

In June 1699, his preparations being com- 
pleted, Penn, with his wife and family, took 



WILLIAM PENN-. 189 

shipping for Pennsylvania; and on the third of 
Julv, he addressed a valedictory epistle to ail 
the people called Quakers, in Europe, dating 
it on board the ship, lying in Cowes road, near 
the Isle of Wight. On the 9th of the same 
month he sailed, and was nearly three months 
at sea, so that he did not reach Philadelphia 
till October, arriving just after the yellow fe- 
ver, which had been raging in the province, 
had ceased, after having caused a great mor- 
tahty in Philadelphia. 

During this visit to the province, Penn ne- 
gotiated a new treaty with the Indians, and 
made a very extensive purchase of lands from 
them ; he also had divers meetings with the 
different Assemblies of the province, transact- 
ing with them a great variety of public busi- 
ness with much harmony and satisfaction ; 
part of which was the passing of a body of 
laws together with his new and last charter 
of privileges, which was not finished till Oc- 
tober 1701. 

It was the declared intention of William 
Penn at this time, to spend the remainder of 
his life in his province; and he accordingly ap- 
plied himself with much diligence and assidui- 
ty to the offices of government and the esta- 
blishment of wholesome regulations and usages. 
But, during his absence from England, mea- 
sures were in agitation there for reducing both 



190 THE LIFE OF 

his, and the other proprietary governments in 
America, into regal ones, under the pretence 
of advancing the prerogative of the crown, and 
the national advantage; and a bill, for that 
purpose was actually brought into the House 
of Lords. Upon which, such of the owners 
of land in Pennsylvania, as were then in 
England, immediately represented the hard- 
ship of their case to the Parliament, soliciting 
time for William Penn's return to answer for 
himself; and accordingly they despatched to 
him an account of the state of the affair, and 
pressed his return, as soon as possible ; with 
which request he found it indispensably ne- 
cessary to comply. 

On the occasion of taking leave of the Sa- 
chems of the Susquehanna and Shawanna In- 
dians, and others of that people who came to 
Philadelphia to pay their respects to him, he 
made every disposition in his power for their 
future w^elfare, and for preserving a good un- 
derstanding between them and the whites. 

On the 28th of October 1701, just before his 
' departure, the Council, the Assembly of the 
province, and several of the principal inhabi- 
tants attending, Penn presented them with 
their last charter of privileges, to which we 
have already referred. He also favoured the 
town of Philadelphia, then become very con- 
siderable, and in a flourishing condition, with 



9 

WILLIAM PENN. 191 

a particular memorial of his benevolence, by t 
granting the inhabitants a charter of privi- 
leges, for its particular regulation, good order, 
government and police. / 

He then, having appointed Andrew Hamil- 
ton his Deputy Governor, and James Logan 
Secretary of the province and Clerk of the ) 
Council, set sail for England, where he arrived 
about the middle of December. 

Soon after his arrival, the bill before men- 
tioned, for reducing the proprietary govern- 
ments, into regal ones, which through the so- 
licitations of his friends had been postponed, 
at the last session of Parliament, was entirely 
dropped, and no further progress made in that 
affair. Soon after this, (February 1702) King 
WiUiam HI. died and was succeeded by Queen 
Anne. 

William Penn, being in the Queen's favour, 
was often at court, and for his convenience 
on that account, he took lodgings at Kensing- 
ton, where, at his leisure hours, he wrote se- 
veral excellent treatises for the instruction of 
posterity. 

While employed in this manner, he became 
unhappily involved in a law-suit with the ex- 
ecutors of one Ford, who had formerly been his 
steward. He had considered the demands of 
these to be so unreasonable, as to feel himself 
bound to resist them out of justice to his fami 



1 92 THE LIFE OF 

ly. His cause was at length determined; but, 
" though many thought him aggrieved, it was 
attended, it is said, by such circumstances, 
that the Court of Chancery did not think it 
proper to reheve him." It appears that Wil- 
liam Penn had behaved to Ford with great 
kindness and liberality, and that, not suspect- 
ing one whom he had both trusted and served, 
he had incautiously and without due inspec- 
tion put his hand to papers, as mere matters 
of course, which his steward had laid before 
him to sign. Hence the law could give him 
no relief. But whatever was the history of 
the transaction, the steward lost his reputation 
by it. James Logan, who was secretary to 
the government of Pennsylvania, and who had 
occasion to allude to the transaction in a 
manuscript found after his death, stigmatizes 
it as " the fraud and treachery of his stew- 
ard;" and in the same language it was gener- 
ally spoken of al that time. The issue of this 
affair must have been very distressing to him, 
not only because it was entirely unexpected, 
but because a man of his delicate feelings 
must have supposed that his character would 
suffer in consequence of it. But, besides, he 
was under the painful necessity of dwelling 
within the rules of the Fleet till such time as 
the pecuniary part of the matter could be Set- 
tled. For this purpose, he was obliged to sub- 



WILLIAM PENN. 



193 



mit to a still more painful act for the sake of 
justice, — to mortgage his province of Pennsyl- 
vania for 6,600/. (A D.1708.) 

One of the most remote causes of his em- 
barrassment, indeed the great and continually 
operating one, was the expenditure of money 
for the good of the Province, without those pe- 
cuniary returns to which he was entitled. But 
although this was the first and great cause ; 
yet that which added to it, and brought on 
the present distress, was the unexpected de- 
mand of the executors of his steward, Ford, 
and the issue of the suit in Chancery. Having 
raised the money, which was principally ad- 
vanced by friends of his own religious society, 
he thereby removed some of his difficulties ; 
and was restored to the bosom of his family, 
from whom he was doomed never again to be 
separated, except by death. For soon after 
this we first hear of the failure of his consti- 
tution. 

This intelligence respecting his bealth.though 
it bursts thus suddenly upon us, ought not to 
surprise us. It is not to be wondered at that 
symptoms of decline should have begun to 
shew themselves in his constitution, when we 
consider the distressing scenes he experienced 
throughout hfe. He had been afflicted by the 
continuation of bitter persecution. He had to 
contrast his own unsuspicious and generous 

17 



194 THE LIFE OF 

conduct with the treachery of his steward. — 
He had to lament the loss of his wife, who was 
his tried and constant friend, in adversity as 
well as prosperity. He had the mortification 
to witness the loss of his suit in Chancery, 
both as it embarrassed his pecuniary affairs, 
and as it might injure his reputation;, and to 
see himself a prisoner within the limits of the 
Fleet. And he had been under the necessity 
of mortgaging his Province. These were 
causes which could not but have affected him, 
broken his spirits, and rendered him incapable 
of business and society as he was wont to have 
been in the days of his health and vigour both 
of body and mind. Religion and philosophy 
have undoubtedly the power of blunting the 
edge of our afflictions, and of rendering them 
more bearable; but they cannot alter the law 
of our mortality, or secure us from that decay 
to which we are liable from our nature. 

WiUiam Penn now made up his mind to 
part with his Province to government, for 
which he asked the sum of 20,000/. His de- 
mand was referred to the Lords Commissioners 
of Trade and Plantations, and an agreement 
was accordingly made for 12,000/. ; but the 
bad and dangerous state of his health prevent- 
ed the execution of it. He was seized with 
three severals fits, said to be apoplectic, the 
latter of which being so severe that it was 



WILLIAM PENN. 



195 



with difficulty he survived it ; and which so 
shattered his understanding and memory, that 
he was left scarcely fit to manage the most 
trifling of his private concerns. 




196 THE LIFE OF 



CHAPTER XVI. 



Gradual decay of Penn's health — His Death--His Funeral— 
His will— Comparative value of his European and Ameri- 
can possessions — Penn's character. 

The account which we have of William 
Penn from this time, though authentic as far 
as it goes, is extremely scanty. It is stated in 
Besse's History of his Life, that one of his in- 
timate friends visited him once every year 
from the present period until his death; and it 
is from the memorandums he left behind him 
of these visits, that the account of his life is 
continued. We learn from them, that his de- 
cay was gradual; and that, although his frame 
had been so grievously shattered and impair- 
ed, his existence under it had been left comfor- 
table. He had sufficient sense and understand- 
ing spared him to exhibit the outward appear- 
ance of innocence and love, and the inward 
one of the enjoyment of the Deity himself, by 
an almost constant communion with his Holy 
Spirit. 

In the year 1718, the before-mentioned his- 
tory of his life continues the account thus: — 
" After a gradual and continued declension 
during many years, his body now drew near 
to its dissolution, and, on the thirtieth day of 



WILLIAM PENN. 197 

the fifth month (July, 1718) between two and 
three in the morning, in the seventy-fourth 
year of his age, his soul, prepared for a more 
glorious habitation, forsook its decayed taber- 
nacle, which was committed to the earth at 
Jordans in Buckinghamshire, where his wife 
and several of his family had been interred. 
And as he had led in this life a course of pa- 
tient continuance in well-doing, and, through 
faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, had been ena- 
abled to overcome the world, the flesh, and 
the devil, the grand enemies of man's salva- 
tion, he is, we doubt not, admitted to that ever- 
lasting inheritance which God hath prepared 
for his people, and made partaker of the prom- 
ise of Christ." 

His funeral was attended by a great con- 
course of people from all parts, and by many 
of different denominations of religion, to pay to 
his memory this last tribute of respect. 

By his last will, made a few months before 
his first attack by apoplexy, he left his estates 
in England and Ireland to his eldest surviving 
son, William. The government of his Pro- 
vince of Pennsylvania, and powers thereunto 
belonging, he devised to his particular friends 
Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, Earl Mor- 
timer, and Earl Pawlet, upon trust, to dispose 
thereof to Government, or any other person, 
to the best advantage they could ; and to be 

17* 



198 THE LIFE OF 

applied in such manner as he should hereaf- 
ter direct. He then devised to his daughter 
Letitia, and to her heirs, all his lands, rents, 
and other profits in America, after payment 
of his just debts; and to convey to each of 
three children of his son William ten thousand 
acres of land, to be set out in such places as 
his trustees should think fit. The agreement 
which William Penn had made with Govern- 
ment, as before related, to part with the Pro- 
vince for 12,000/. had been decided, by the 
joint opinion of the crown lawyers to have 
been made void by his inability to execute the 
surrender in a proper manner ; in pursuance 
of which, not ojrily the Province itself, but al- 
so the governnfient of it descended to John, 
Thomas, and Richard Penn, the surviving sons 
of the younger branch of the family, thence- 
forward the proprietaries. 

It is proper to remark, that when William 
Penn made his last will, his Estates in Eng- 
land and Ireland, which produced upwards of 
fifteen hundred pounds annually, were esteem- 
ed of more value than all his property in 
America, especially as only part of the mort- 
gage thereon had been discharged: but a pro- 
gressive increase of trade and population, al- 
most unexampled, during a happy state of 
uninterrupted tranquillity, had improved the 



WILLIAM PENF. 199 

value of the Pennsylvania property far be- 
yond what could have been imagined. 

Having followed WiUiam Penn Irom the 
cradle to the grave, it may be deduced from 
the preceding pages that he was a kind hus- 
band, a tender father, a noble patriot, and a 
good man. He seems to have been, if I may 
use the expression, daily conversant with the 
Divine Being, daily worshipping and praising 
him, either in his family or public devotions. 
All his publications, nay, almost every letter, 
breathe a spirit of piety and reliance upon 
God. And, although his life was a scene of 
trial and suffering, he must have had intervals 
of comfort and happiness the most solid and 
brilliant; one ray of the divine presence dissi- 
pating whole clouds of affliction around him. 

Few men of character, it may be truly said, 
ever experienced such a continued outcry 
against them,while living, as William Penn; and 
few men, after all the imputations against them 
had been allowed to wander free and uncon- 
trolled, ever triumphed more in the estimation 
of posterity. 

It is under the sublime character of a Chris- 
tian legislator that he ought principally to be 
viewed. He made the most perfect freedom, 
both civil and religious, the basis of his esta- 
blishment, and thus did more towards settling 
his province, and towards the settlement of it 



200 THE LIFE OF WILLIAM PENN. 

in a strong and permanent manner, than the 
wisest regulations could have done upon any 
other plan. He exhibited to posterity a new 
mode of government; and while he gave to the 
representatives concerned in it all the power 
which they themselves could desire, he made 
the people, according to Burke, " as free as 
any in the world." He took away from both 
the means of corruption, and from himself and 
successors the means of tyranny and oppres- 
sion. 

In giving such an excellent example to 
mankind, he shewed them how happy it is 
possible for men to live in the world, if they 
please; for while he distinguished between the 
too general abuse of power and the exertion of 
a just authority, he laid a foundation for hap- 
py consequences, as manifested in the late 
glorious example and prosperity of the Pro- 
vince, to such a degree of both public and pri- 
vate felicity, as hath exceeded that of most 
other countries that we know of in the world. 

Such was the happy result of the govern- 
ment of William Penn. How awful, then, 
does the contemplation of it render the situa- 
tion of statesmen; if, having within themselves 
the power of disseminating so much happi- 
ness, they have failed or neglected to dis- 
pense it. 



QUESTIONS 

FOR EXAMINATION OF PUPILS. 



HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

CHAPTER I. — Page 1. — When and by whom was Ameri- 
ca discoveredT (2) For what European powerl What 
colonies has Spain in America now? When and by whom 
was the continent first discovered'? Ans. By the Cabots 
in 1497. There is an error in the date in the text. For 
whoml When and by whom was the earliest permanent set- 
tlement made in the United States'? The second! (3) What 
is said of Samuel Champlain'? Of Henry Hudson"? Of the 
Swedes'? (4) What is said of the settlement of the Dutch and 
Swedes'? By whom was America originally colonisedl — 
CHAPTER II.— Who first explored the Delaware bay and 
riverl (5) Where did.theDutch form a Colony "? When did 
the Swedes visit Cape Henlopen'? (6) What did they buUd! 
What is said of John Printz"? What other places were set- 
tled by the Swedes'? How were the Swedes regarded by the 
Dutch colonists'? (7) What is said of Stuyvesantl Of King 
Charles'? (8) What was New Amsterdam then called"? What 
is said of the country granted to Penn'? CHAPTER III. — 
What is said of Nichols' governmenf? (9) Of Lovelace's? 
Of Finne's rebelHon'? Of the Indians! (10) Relate the 
anecdote of Tashiowycan'' (12) What was done by the 
Marylander's during Lovelace's administration'? What is 
said of the Dutch"? Who was now made governor'? What 
happened during Andross's administration'? (13) What is 
said of New Jersey'? What was done by Lord Berkelyl By 
Andross"? By Byllinge'? By the trustees'? (14) Who was 
the first governor'? What is said of this cursory account? 
CHAPTER IV.— Of William Penn "? (15) Of Burlington 
and its inhabitants'? What happened in December 1678'? 
(16) W^hat happened when the shield was opposite Coaquan- 
nock"? What other places did the Friends settle'? What is 
said of these early settlements'? (17) Of William Penn, the 
founder of Pennsylvania? 



202 QUESTIONS. 

LIFE OF PENN. 
CHAPTER I.— (19) Who was William Pennl What is 
said of his father, Admiral Venni (20) Where did Penn 
receive the rudiments of his educationl What is said to 
have happened to him here] (21) When did he go to col- 
lege 1 With whom did Penn become acquainted 1 What 
strengthened his religious impression? (22) What happen- 
ed in consequence of he and some of his companions seceding 
from the Church of England! Why was he expelled from 
college'? (23) What did his father determine to dol What 
anecdote is recorded of him] After leaving Paris where did 
he go] What is said of Moses Amyraultl (24) To what 
studies did he especially attend! What did he do on re- 
ceiving a letter from his father? Why did he enter as a stu- 
dent at Lincoln's Inn ? CHAPTER II.— (25) What did 
Penn resume? With whom did he associate? What did the 
Admiral do? (26) What did he resolve to do as a last re- 
source? What happened to Penn at Cork? (27) When 
was Penn apprehended? How was he released? What did 
the Admiral do on being informed that his son had become 
a Quaker? (28) What did his father inform him? Did Penn 
comply with this request? Give his reasons for not doing so? 
(29) What did he do when his father dismissed him from his 
house? When did he first appear as an author. CHAP- 
TER III.— (30) What was the belief of the early Quakers? 
What sort of life did the Quakers lead'' (31) Relate the cir- 
cumstance which led to Penn's being imprisoned in the tower? 
(33) How was he here treated? Did he remain idle? What 
was the design of this work? (34) What is said of it? To 
whom did Penn write a letter? What was the substance of 
it? (35) Did he obtain his hberty? What did he publish? 
(36) What did he review in if By whose intercession was 
he released? CHAPTER IV.— -(37) Where do we next 
meet with Penn? (38) What was Loe's exhortation? What 
did the Admiral now do? (39) What did Penn do after he 
had executed his father's commission? What is said of the 
Conventicle Act? Did Penn comply with this act? (40) 
What was done to him? When did his trial came on? Who 



QUESTIONS. 203 

were the justices'? (41 ) The jury! What was stated in the 
indictment'? Give an account of the trial and what happen- 
ed at it"? (45) What did Penn say as he was hurried away 
to the bale-docld (46) What verdict was rendered by the 
jury'? What was done to them'? What verdict did they 
now bring in'? How were they addressed by the Recorder'? 
(47) What happened to Penn on his objecting to the treat- 
ment received by the jury'? (48) What was done to the 
jury? When were the jury again called in"? What was their 
verdict? What conversation took place between Penn and 
the Recorder'? (50) Why were Penn and Meade kept pris- 
oners'? What became of the jurymen'? CHAPTER V.— 
(51) What was Admiral Penn'slast advice to his son"? (52) 
What did Penn learn at Oxford'? (53) What was the intro- 
ductory sentence of Penn's letter to the Vice-Chancellorl — 
(54) What did the early Quaker's deny'? What did they con- 
sider and believe'? What did he endeavour to refute in the 
pamphlet that he published'? What happened to him while 
preaching in Wheeler-streef? (55) Before whom was he con- 
ducted '? What did the constables depose 1 What did Rob- 
inson do to convict Penn'? Relate the conversation between 
Sir John Robinson and Penn'? (57) What was said by Sir 
John Shelden'? By Penn"? What did Penn answer when 
Sir John Robinson informed him that he mnst be sent to 
Newgate for six months'? (58) Where was he sent. CHAP- 
TER VI.~(59) What did Penn write in prison'? Relate 
his address to " The Supreme Authority of England"?" (61) 
Where did he travel when his term of imprisonment expir- 
ed"? When did he return to England? (62) Whom did he 
marry? For what was she celebrated'? Did Penn still con- 
tinue to preach"? Where did he travel after his marriage'? 
(63) What works did he puWish"? CHAPTER VII.— (64) 
What was done by Penn in 1673"? What was done by Tho- 
mas Hicks"? What did Penn publish in reply"? (65) What 
is said of this publication"? What was the subject of the workT 
What did Penn explain'? (67) Why was Penn offended with 
Hicks'? What did he publish'? Was Hicks silenced? What 
did Penn demand"? Was it complied with? What wa 



204 QUESTIONS. 

done by the Baptists'? (68) Give the extract from a letter 
written by Penn to George Fox? (72) By whom was Penn 
next attacked? Relate the controversy between him and 
FaldoT (74) What works did he publish this year. CHAP- 
TER VIII.-K75) What was done by Parliament in reference 
to the declaration of indulgence granted by Charles'? What 
was the consequence? Where did intolerancy first break out'? 
(76) To whom did Penn address a letter? Give some passa- 
ges from it? (77) To whom did Penn address a letter on 
the subject of intolerancy? How were the Quakers treated? 
What work did Penn pubUsh? (78) Give some of his argu- 
ments from this work? (80) What did he resolve to do? 
What did he publish? Give some extracts from it? (82)What is 
said of George Fox? (83) Give the substance of Penn's let- 
ter to him? Did he obtain his release? CHAPTER IX.— 
(84) Where was Penn residing in 1675? With whom did he 
open a controversy? (85) What is said of its issue? Give 
the conclusion of his letter to Baxter? With whom did he 
become engaged in an arbitration? (86) Who refused to 
abide by his decision? Give his two letters to John Fenwick? 
(88) On what account did he address a letter to EUzabeth, 
daughter of the King of Bohemia? What did Penn now ac- 
cidentally become? (89) Relate the manner in which he be- 
came so concerned? (90) What did he and the other trus- 
tees agree on with Sir George Cartaret? What was the next 
step? On whom did it devolve? (91) Give the outline of his 
concessions? Whom did the trustees invite to settle in the 
country? (92) What caution did they give? CHAPTER 
X. — (93) What proposals were now made? Who became 
purchasers? (94 Who were appointed commissioners? What 
happened while they were lying in the Thames? What did 
Penn now determine to do'' (95) Give the letter he receiv- 
ed from the Princess Elizabeth. For what place did he em- 
bark? By whom was he accompanied? • Where did they 
proceed? (99) What happened in Amsterdam? Give the con- 
clusion of his letter to tbe King of Poland? (97) Where did 
they go after leaving Amsterdam? How were they received 
by the Princess Elizabeth? (98) How were the hearers af- 



QUESTIONS. 205 

fected by the meetings of the Quakers'? Where did they now 
proceed] What gave them great satisfaction at Amsterdaml 
(99) Give an account of the meeting held at Hollingenl Whom 
did Penn take with him as a companion! (100) Give an 
account of the rehgious society at the residence of Somer- 
dykesT Give an account of the meeting he had with them"? 
(101) Where did he now hold meetings'? (102) What did he 
do in taking leave of the Princess'? What happened in the 
post wagon"? How was he occupied in the cities he visited"? 
With whom did he engage in a public dispute"? (103) How 
did he employ himself in Rotterdam'? What did he expose 
in his letters'? Whom did he go to visif? How was he re- 
ceived] (104) What is said of Penn's discourse"? Where 
did he hold a pubhc meeting"? For what place did he embark? 
104) When did he go from London'? How does he describe 
his little family meeting"? CHAPTER XI.--(106) How many 
settlers did Penn despatch to New Jersey"? (107) Why were 
the Catholics persecuted"* Give an account of the Popish 
Plot"? Why were Penn and the Quakers persecuted"? (108) 
What hill was taken up by Parliament? Why was it useless 
to the Quakers! What was said in Penn's petition"? (109) 
Relate his address to the House of Commons"? (Ill) What 
did he declare! (112) Did his language offend anyone"? 
Give his address to the Committee"? (115) What is said of 
this explanation"? (116) What did the Committee agree to do"? 
(117) What involved the nation in a new anxiety? What 
pamphlet did Penn publish"? What did he propose in this 
work"? (118) What was his opinion about the King"? What 
did he lay before the electors"? What caused Penn to take a 
part in the elections"? (119) What happened to Penn at the 
hustings "? Why was not Sydney returned "? Where did 
Penn return'? (120) Why was he grieved'? CHAPTER XII. 
— (121) How was Penn affected by the death of the Princess 
Elizabeth'? (122) How much money was owing to Penn 
from the government? What tract of land did he solicit in 
lieu of it"? What led him to take this stepl (123) What 
were the views of Penn in the colonization of Pennsylvania] 

18 



206 QUESTIONS. 

Did he effect this] Who opposed Penn's petition] How 
did it end] (124) What was he made by the charter] What 
was specified in his charter? What were the conditions of 
his being made proprietor] What powers had he] (125) 
What was he now obUgedto give up] What gave him great 
satisfaction] (126) What did he first do after obtaining his 
charter] What next] What did they stipulate] (127) 
What is said of these stipulations ] What did Penn draw 
up] (128) What does he say in his Fundamental article] 
Who sailed for Pennsylvania] What was the object of the 
commissioners] (199) To whom did Penn write a letter ] 
What did he say in it'' CHAPTER Xin.--(131) What be- 
reavement did Penn meet with in 1682] What was the first 
thing he did after this event] Give the preface to it] (137) 
What was ordered by the Frame which followed this pre- 
face] (138) What did Penn obtain from the Duke of York] 
What else did he obtain from him] (139) About whom did 
his mind become seriously affected'' What did he resolve to 
do] Give the substance of his letter to his wife and childrenT 
(148) Relate the conversation between Penn and the King] 
CHAPTER XIV.---(152) In which ship did he depart for the 
New World] How was he received] (152) What did he 
assure the magistrates in his speech] What did he do at 
Upland] Why did he change its name] Of what did the 
Assembly consist] What was done by it] Relate some of 
the laws which were passed] (155) Why did Penn proceed 
to Maryland] To what did Lord Baltimore lay claim] What 
was done by Penn] What took place at the interview be- 
tween them] (157) What did Penn obtain by the accession 
of James the Second] What name did they receive] What 
event was now about to take place'? Whither did he pro- 
ceed? (158) Whom did they find there'? By whom was 
Penn attended? What did he hold in his hand? What was 
done by the principal sachem? (159) What address did Penn 
make? What did he then do? (160) What was done by the 
Indians? What is said of this treaty? (161) Of Penn's treat- 
ment to the Indians? Where did Penn return after thetrea- 



QUESTIONS. 207 

ty7 Upon what place did he pitch as the most suitable site 
for a townT How was it situated! (162) What happened 
soon after this? (163) What maybe said of Pennl How 
did he divide the land? When did the Council and Assem- 
bly assemble? Who was chosen speaker of the latter body? 
Where did Penn now go? For what purpose? (164) What 
caused his return to England? By whom was he regretted? 
What circumstance proves his generosity and disinterested- 
ness? (165) Did he arrive safely in England? CHAPTER 
XV .--(166) By whom was the King succeeded? (167) Was 
Penn held in any esteem by him? Give the passage from 
Gerard Croesse respecting him? (168) What was among the 
first of his applications to James? Was it successful? What 
did the people begin to suspect? (169) How was he now 
talked of? Who entertained this opinion of him? What 
was contained in Penn's letter to him? (170) What did this 

letter produce ? What work did Penn now pubhsh? 

What is said of it? How many Quakers were liberated? 
(171) What has been usually supposed? Was Penn of this 
same opinion? On what accounts had Penn cause to be 
grieved? . 172 Give the extracts from his letters? What did 
he resolve to do in respect to the Council? (173) To what 
number did he reduce the executive? When did the Prince 
of Orange land at Torbay? What did Penn lose by this? 
Why did he not dare to return to America? (174) What did 
he resolve to do"? What happened to him while walking in 
Whitehall? What did he protest? f 175 ) What was the con- 
sequence of the Act of Toleration? What is said of it? (176 ) 
Why was Penn again arrested? Wiiat did he request? Was 
it grantedl Relate what happened at his examination? (177) 
How was the conduct of the King regarded? What again 
began to occupy his attention? (178 1 For what did he long? 
What was done by the Secretary of State? By what was 
his voyage stopped? (179) Why did Penn determine on re- 
tirement'? Where did he take lodgings? (180) What in- 
telligence gave him uneasiness? What was affirmed by those 
at the head of aifairs? What was Penn deprived of? (181) 



208 QUESTIONS. 

What is said of his feelings? What is said, of Penn? (182) 
What important question occurred to him? What is said of 
the new governor? What did he determine! What does he 
say of his expenses? (183) What did he determine to dol 
What pleasing event took place? By whose influence? What 
did they consider? (184) What did they say to King William? 
What was his answer? What did they then press him to 
do? What instrument was made out? (185) What is here 
saidofPenn? What affliction happened to him? (186) Did 
Penn write an account of his wife? Give some extracts from 
it ? (187) Why did he not now go to America? (188) What 
is said of Penn's second wife? When did Penn's eldest son 
die? What is said of John Everett and Thomas Story? (189) 
To whom did Penn address>an epistle? When did he reach 
Philadelphia? What was done by him on this visit? What 
had been Penn's determination? What measures were in 
agitation during his absence from England? (190) What ac- 
count was despatched to Penn? Did he make any provision 
for the welfare of the Indians? What happened October 
28th, 1707? (191) W^hom did he appoint Deputy Governor? 
What is said of the bill for reducing the proprietary govern- 
ments into regal ones? Who succeeded William III? What 
is said of Penn? With whom did he become involved in a 
law suit? (192) What is said of this transaction? Where 
was he obliged to dwell? (193) For what sum did he mort- 
gage Pennsylvania? What was one cause of his embarrass- 
ment? From whom did he obtain money? What is said 
respecting his health? What is said of himself? (194) For 
what sum did Penn determine to part with his government? 
What prevented the execution of it? CHAPTER XVI. — 
(196) What is here said of Penn? Give the Extract from 
Besse's History? (197) To whom did he leave his estate? 
The government of his province? (198) What did he devise 
to his daughter ? What is said of the agreement which Penn 
made with tlie Government? Who became proprietaries? What 
is here remarked? (199) What is here said of Penn? 



THE 

CONSTITUTION 

OP 

PENNSYLVANIA, 

WITH THE AMENDMENTS ADOPTED OCTOBER 9, 

1838. 



ARTICLE I. 



Sect. 1. The legislative power of this 
Commonwealth shall be vested in a General 
Assembly, which shall consist of a Senate and 
House of Representatives. 

Sect. II. The Representatives shall be cho- 
sen annually by the citizens of the city of 
Philadelphia and of each county respectively, 
on the second Tuesday of October. 

Sect. III. No person shall be a representa- 
tive who shall not have attained the age of 
twenty -one years, and have been a citizen and 

18* 



210 THE CONSTITUTION 

inhabitant of the State three years next pre- 
ceding his election, and the last year thereof 
an inhabitant of the district in and for which 
he shall be chosen a Representative, unless he 
shall have been absent on the public business 
of the United States or of this State. 

Sect. IV. Within three years after the first 
meeting of the General Assembly, and within 
every subsequent term of seven years, an enu- 
meration of the taxable inhabitants shall be 
made in such manner as shall be directed by 
law. The number of Representatives shall 
at the several periods of making such enumer- 
ation, be fixed by the Legislature, and ap- 
portioned among the city of Philadelphia, and 
the several counties, according to the number 
of taxable inhabitants in each: And shall ne- 
ver be less than sixty nor greater than one 
hundred. Each county shall have at least one 
Representative, but no county hereafter erect- 
ed shall be entitled to a separate representa- 
tion until a sufiicient number of taxable in- 
habitants shall be contained within it, to en- 
title them to one Representative, agreeably 
to the ratio which shall then be established. 

Sect. V. The Senators shall be chosen for 
three years by the citizens of Philadelphia and 
of the several counties at the same time, in 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. 211 

the same manner, and at the same places 
where they shall vote for representatives. 

Sect. VI. The number of Senators shall, at 
the several periods of making the enumeration 
before mentioned, be fixed by the Legislature, 
and apportioned among the districts formed as 
hereinafter directed, according to the number 
of taxable inhabitants in each; and shall never 
be less than one-fourth, nor greater than one- 
third, of the number of Representatives. 

Sect. VII. The Senators shall be chosen in 
districts, to be formed by the Legislature; but 
no district shall be so formed as to entitle it to 
elect more than two Senators, unless the num- 
ber of taxable innabitants in any city or coun- 
ty shall, at any time, be such as to entitle it to 
elect more than two, but no city or county 
shall be entitled to elect more than four Sena- 
tors; when a district shall be composed of two 
or more counties, they shall be adjoining ; nei- 
ther the city of Philadelphia nor any county 
shall be divided in forming a district. 

Sect. VIII. No person shall be a Senator who 
shall not have attained the age of twenty-five 
years and have been a citizen and inhabitant 
of the State four years next before his election, 
and the last year thereof an inhabitant of the 
district for which he shall be chosen, unless he 
shall have been absent on the public business 



212 THE CONSTITUTION 

of the United States or of this State; and no 
person elected as aforesaid shall hold said of- 
fice after he shall have removed from such 
district. 

Sect. IX. The Senators who may be elect- 
ed at the first General Election after the adop- 
tion of the amendments to the Constitution, 
shall be divided by lot into three classes. The 
seats of the Senators of the first class shall be 
vacated at the expiration of the first year; of 
the second class at the expiration of the se- 
cond year; and of the third class at the expi- 
ration of the third year; so that thereafter one- 
third ot the whole number of Senators may be 
chosen every year. The Senators elected be- 
fore the amendments to the Constitution shall 
be adopted shall hold their offices during the 
terms for which they shall respectively have 
been elected. 

Sect. X. The General Assembly shall meet 
on the first Tuesday of January, in every year, 
unless sooner convened by the Governor. 

Sect. XI. Each House shall choose its Spea- 
ker and other officers ; and the Senate shall 
also choose a Speaker pro tempore, when the 
Speaker shall exercise the office of Governor. 

Sect. XII. Each House shall judge of the 
qualifications of its members. Contested elec- 
tions shall be determined by a committee to 



OF PENNSYLVANIA, 213 

be selected, formed and regulated in such man- 
ner as shall be directed by law. A majority 
of each House shall constitute a quorum to do 
business; but a smaller number may adjourn 
from day to day, and may be authorized by 
law to compel the attendance of absent mem- 
bers, in such manner and under such penalties 
as may be provided. 

Sect. XIII. Each House may determine the 
rules of its proceedings, punish its members for 
disorderly behaviour, and with the concur- 
rence of two-thirds, expel a member, but not 
a second time for the same cause ; and shall 
have all other powers necessary for a branch 
of the Legislature of a free State. 

Sect. XIV. The Legislature shall not have 
power to enact laws annulling the contract of 
marriage in any case where, by law, the courts 
of this commonwealth are, or hereafter may 
be, empowered to decree a divorce. 

Sect. XV. Each House shall keep a jour- 
nal of its proceedings, and publish them week- 
ly, except such parts as may require secrecy: 
and the yeas and nays of the members on any 
question shall, at the desire of any two of them, 
be entered on the journals. 

Sect. XVI. The doors of each House and of 
Committees of the Whole shall be open, unless 



214 THE CONSTITUTION 

when the business shall be such as ought to 
be kept secret. 

Sect. XVII. Neither House shall, without 
the consent of the other, adjourn for more than 
three days, nor to any other place than that 
in which the two Houses shall be sitting. 

Sect. XVIII. The Senators and Represen- 
tatives shall receive a compensation for their 
services to be ascertained by law, and paid 
out of the treasury of the Commonwealth. — 
They shall in all cases, except treason, felo- 
ny and breach of surety of the peace, be privi- 
leged from arrest during their attendance at 
the session of their respective Houses, and in 
going to and returning from the same. And 
for any speech or debate in either House they 
shall not be questioned in any other place. 

Sect. XIX. No Senator or Representative 
shall, during the time for which he shall have 
been elected, be appointed to any civil office 
under this Commonwealth which shall have 
been created, or the emoluments of which shall 
have been increased during such time ; and no 
member of Congress or other person holding 
any office, (except of attorney at law and in 
the militia) under the United States or this 
Commonwealth, shall be a member of either 
House during his continuance in Congress or 
in office. 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. 215 

Sect. XX. When vacancies happen in either 
House, the Speaker shall issue writs of elec- 
tion to fill such vacancies. 

Sect. XXI. All bills for raising revenue shall 
originate in the House of Representatives, but 
the Senate may propose amendments as in 
other bills. 

Sect. XXII. No money shall be drawn from 
the treasury but in consequence of appropria- 
tions made bylaw. 

Sect. XXIIl. Every bill which shall have 
passed both Houses shall be presented to the 
Governor. If he approve he shall sign it, but 
if he shall not approve he shall return it with 
his objections to the House in which it shall 
have originated, who shall enter the objections 
at large upon their journals and proceed to 
reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, 
two-thirds of that House shall agree to pass 
the bill, it shall be sent with the objections to 
the other House, bv which likewise it shall be 
reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of 
that House, it shall be a law. But in such 
cases the votes of both Houses shall be deter- 
mined by yeas and nays, and the names of the 
persons voting for or against the bill shall be 
entered on the journals of each House respec- 
tively. If any bill shall not be returned by 
the Governor within ten days (Sundays ex- 



216 THE CONSTITUTION 

cepted) after it shall have been presented to 
him, it shall be a law in like manner as it he had 
signed it, unless the General Assembly, by their 
adjournment, prevented its return, in which 
case it shall be a law, unless sent back within 
three days after their next meeting. 

Sect. XXIV. Every order, resolution or 
vote to which the concurrence of both Houses 
may be necessary (except on a question of ad- 
journment) shall be presented to the Gover- 
nor, and before it shall take effect, be approv- 
ed by him, or being disapproved, shall be re- 
passed by two-thirds of both Houses according 
to the rules and limitations prescribed in case 
of a bill. 

Sect. XXV. No corporate body shall be 
hereafter created, renewed or extended with 
banking or discounting privileges, without six 
months' previous public notice of the applica- 
tion for the same in such manner as shall be 
prescribed by law. Nor shall any charter 
for the purposes aforesaid, be granted for a 
longer period than twenty years, and every 
such charter shall contain a clause reserving 
to the Legislature the power to alter, revoke 
or annul the same, whenever in their opinion 
it may be injurious to the citizens of the Com- 
monwealth, in such manner, however, that no 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. 217 

injustice shall be done to the corporators. No 
law hereafter enacted, shall create, renew, or 
extend the charter of more than one corpora- 
tion. 

ARTICLE 11. 

Sect. I. The Supreme Executive power 
of this Commonwealth shall be vested in a 
Governor. 

Sect. II. The Governor shall be chosen on 
the second Tuesday of October, by the citi- 
zens of the Commonwealth, at the places where 
they shall respectively vote for Representa- 
tives. The returns of every election for Go- 
vernor shall be sealed up and transmitted to 
the seat of government, directed to the Spea- 
ker of the Senate, who shall open and publish 
them in the presence of the members of both 
Houses of the Legislature. The person hav- 
ing the highest number of votes shall be Go- 
vernor. But if two or more shall be equal and 
highest in votes, one of them shall be chosen 
Governor by the joint vote of the members of 
both Houses. Contested elections shall be de- 
termined by a committee to be selected from 
both Houses of the Legislature, and formed 
and regulated in such manner as shall be di- 
rected by law. 

19 



218 THE COIVSTITUTION 

Sect. III. The Governor shall hold his of- 
fice during three years from the third Tuesday 
of January nexft ensuing his election, and shall 
not be capable of holding it longer than six in 
any term of nine years. 

Sect. IV. He shall be at least thirty years 
of age, and have been a citizen and an inhabi- 
tant of this State seven years next before his 
election; unless he shall have been absent on 
the public business of the United States, or of 
this State. 

Sect. V. No member of Congress or person 
holding any office under the United States 
or this State, shall exercise the office of Go- 
vernor. 

Sect. VI. The Governor shall at stated times 
receive for his services, a compensation, which 
shall be neither increased nor diminished dur- 
ing the period for which he shall have been 
elected. 

Sect. VII. He shall be commander-in-chief 
of the army and navy of this Commonwealth, 
and of the militia, except when they shall be 
called into the actual service of the United 
States. 

Sect. VIII. He shall appoint a Secretary 
of the Commonwealth during pleasure, and he 
shall nominate and by and with the advice and 
consent of the Senate appoint all judicial of- 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. 219 

ficersof Courts of Record, unless otherwise 
provided for in this Constitution. He shall 
have power to fill all vacancies that may hap- 
pen in such judicial offices during the recess 
of the Senate, by granting commissions which 
shall expire at the end of their next session: 
Provided^ That in acting on executive nomi- 
nations the Senate shall sit wdth open doors, 
and in confirming or rejecting the nominations 
of the Governor, the vote shall be taken by 
yeas and nays. 

Sect. IX. He shall have power to remit 
fines and forfeitures, and grant reprieves and 
pardons, except in cases of impeachment. 

Sect. X. He may require information in 
writing, from the officers in the executive de- 
partment, on any subject relating to the duties 
of their respective offices. 

Sect. XI. He shall from time to time, give 
to the General Assembly information of the 
state of the Commonwealth, and recommend 
to their consideration such measures as he shall 
judge expedient. 

Sect. XII. He may, on extraordinary oc- 
casions, convene the General Assembly ; and 
in case of disagreement between the two 
Houses, with respect to the time of adjourn- 
ment, adjourn them to such time as he may 
think proper, not exceeding four months. 



220 THE CONSTITUTION 

Sect. XIII. He shall take care that the laws 
be faithfully executed. 

Sect. XIV. In case of the death or resigna- 
tion of the Governor, or his removal from of- 
fice, the Speaker of the Senate shall exercise 
the office of Governor, until another Governor 
shall be duly qualified; but in such case anoth- 
er Governor shall be chosen at the next an- 
nual election of Representatives, unless such 
death, resignation, or removal shall occur 
within three calender months immediately pre- 
ceding such next annual election, in which 
case a Governor shall be chosen at the second 
succeeding annual election of Representatives. 
And if the trial of a contested election shall 
continue longer than until the third Monday 
of January next ensuing the election of Gover- 
nor, the Governor of the last year, or the 
Speaker of the Senate who may be in the ex- 
ercise of the executive authority, shall con- 
tinue therein until the determination of such 
contested election, and until a Governor shall 
be duly qualified as aforesaid. 

Sect. XV. The Secretary of the Common- 
wealth shall keep a fair register of all the of- 
ficial acts and proceedings of the Governor, 
and shall, when required, lay the same and all 
papers, minutes and vouchers relative thereto, 
before either branch of the Legislature, and 



OF PENiVSYLVANIA. 221 

shall perform such other duties as shall be en- 
joined him by law. 

ARTICLE III. 

Sect. I. In elections by the citizens, every 
■white freeman of the age of twenty-one years, 
having resided in this State one year, and in 
the election district where he offers to vote, 
ten days immediately preceding such election, 
and within two years paid a state or county 
tax, which shall have been assessed at least 
ten days before the election, shall enjoy the 
rights of an elector. But a citizen of the 
United States, who had previously been a 
qualified voter of this State, and" removed 
therefrom and returned, and who shall have 
resided in the election district, and paid taxes 
as aforesaid, shall be entitled to vote, after re- 
siding in the State six months : Provided, 
That white freemen citizens of the United 
States, between the ages of twenty-one and 
twenty-two years, and having resided in the 
State one year, and in the election district ten 
days as aforesaid, shall be entitled to vote, al- 
though they shall not have paid taxes. 

Sect. II. All elections shall be by ballot, 
except those by persons in their representative 
capacities who shall vote viva voce. 

19=^ 



222 THE CONSTITUTIOjV 

Sect. III. Electors shall in all cases, except 
treason, felony, and breach of surety of the 
peace, be privileged from arrest during their 
attendance on elections, and in going to and 
returning from them. 

ARTICLE IV. 

Sect. I. The House of Representatives shall 
have the sole power of impeaching. 

Sect. II. All impeachments shall be tried 
by the Senate: When sitting for that purpose, 
the Senators shall be upon oath or affirmation. 
No person shall be convicted, without the con- 
currence of two-thirds of the members present. 

Sect. III. The Governor, and all other 
civil officers under this Commonwealth, shall 
be liable to impeachment for any misdemeanor 
in office; but judgment, in such cases, shall not 
extend further than to removal from office, 
and disqualification to hold any office of honour, 
trust, or profit, under this Commonwealth: the 
party, whether convicted or acquitted, shall, 
nevertheless, be liable to indictment, trial, 
judgment and punishment, according to law. 



or PENNSYLVANIA. 223 



ARTICLE V 



Sect. I. The judicial power of this Com- 
monwealth shall be vested in a supreme court, 
in courts of oyer and terminer and general 
jail delivery, in a court of common pleas, or- 
phans' court, register's court, and a court of 
quarter sessions of the peace, for each county; 
in justices of the peace, and in such other 
courts as the Legislature may, from time to 
time, establish. 

Sect. IL The judges of the supreme court, 
of the several courts of common pleas, and of 
such other courts of record as are or shall be 
established by law, shall be nominated by the 
Governor, and by and with the consent of the 
Senate appointed and commissioned by him. 
The judges of the supreme court shall hold 
their offices for the term of fifteen years, if 
they shall so long behave themselves well. The 
president judges of the several courts of com- 
mon pleas, and of such other courts of record 
as are or shall be established by law, and all 
other judges required to be learned in the 
law, shall hold their offices for the term often 
years, if they shall so long behave themselves 
well. The associate judges of the courts of 
common pleas shall hold their offices for the 



224 THE CONSTITUTION 

term of five years, if they shall so long behave 
themselves well. But for any reasonable 
cause, which shall not be sufficient ground of 
impeachment, the Governor may remove any 
of them on the address of two-thirds of each 
branch of the Legislature. The judges of the 
supreme court, and the presidents of the se- 
veral courts of common pleas, shall at stated 
times receive for their services an adequate 
compensation to be fixed by law, which shall 
not be diminished during their continuance in 
office; but they shall receive no fees or per- 
quisites of office, nor hold any other office of 
profit under this Commonwealth. 

Sect. III. Until otherwise directed by law, 
the courts of common pleas shall continue as 
at present established. Not more than five 
counties shall at any time be included in one 
judicial district organized for said courts. 

Sect. IV. The jurisdiction of the supreme 
court shall extend over the State; and the 
judges thereofshall, by virtue of their offices, 
be justices of oyer and terminer and general 
jail deUvery, in the several counties. 

Sect. V. The judges of the court of common 
pleas, in each county, shall, by virtue of their 
offices, be justices of oyer and terminer and 
general jail delivery, for the trial of capital and 
other offenders therein; any two of said judges, 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



225 



the president being- one, shall be a quorum ; 
but they shall not hold a court of oyer and 
terminer, or jail delivery, in any county, when 
the judges of the supreme court, or any of 
them shall be sitting in the same county. The 
party accused, as well as the Commonwealth, 
may, under such regulations as shall be pre- 
scribed by law, remove the indictment and 
proceedings, or a transcript thereof, into the 
supreme court. 

Sect. VI. The supreme court and the sever- 
al courts of common pleas, shall, besides the 
powers heretofore usually exercised by them, 
have the powers of a court of chancery, so far 
as relates to the perpetuating of testimony, the 
obtaining of evidence from places not within 
the State, and the care of the persons and es- 
tates of those who are non compotes mentis; and 
the Legislature shall vest in the said courts 
such other powers to grant reUef in equity, as 
shall be found necessary; and may, from time 
to time, enlarge or diminish those powers or 
vest them in such other courts as they shall 
judge proper, for the due administration of 
justice. 

Sec VII. The judges of the court of com- 
mon pleas of each county, any two of whom 
shall be a quorum, shall compose the court of 
quarter sessions of the peace, and orphan's 



226 THE CONSTITUTION 

court thereof; and the register of wills, to- 
gether with the said judges, or any two of 
them, shall compose the register's court of each 
county. 

Sect. VIII. The judges of the courts of 
common pleas shall, within their respective 
counties, have like powers with the judges of 
the supreme court, to issue writs of certiorari 
to the justices of the peace, and to cause their 
proceedings to be brought before them, and 
the like right and justice to be done. 

Sect. IX. The president of the court in 
each circuit within such circuit, and the judges 
of the court of common pleas within their 
respective counties, shall be justices of the 
peace, so far as relates to criminal matters. 

Sect. X. A register's office, for the probate 
of wills and granting letters of administration, 
and an office for the recording of deeds, shall 
be kept in each county. 

Sect. XI. The style of all process shall be 
*' The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania." All 
prosecutions shall be carried on in the name 
and by the authority of the commonwealth of 
Pennsylvania, and conclude, "against the peace 
and dignity of the same." 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. 227 



ARTICLE VL 



Sect. 1. Sheriffs and coroners shall, at the 
times and places of election of representatives, 
be chosen by the citizens of each county. One 
person shall be chosen for each office, who 
shall be commissioned by the Governor. They 
shall hold their offices for three years, if they 
shall so long behave themselves well, and un- 
til a successor be duly qualified; but no person 
shall be twice chosen or appointed sheriff in 
any term of six years. Vacancies in either of 
the said offices shall be filled by an appoint- 
ment, to be made by the Governor, to conti- 
nue until the next general election, and until 
a successor shall be chosen and qualified as 
aforesaid. 

Sect. IL The freemen of the Common- 
wealth shall be armed, organized, and disci- 
plined for its defence; when and in such man- 
ner as may be directed by law. Those who 
conscientiously scruple to bear arms shall not 
be compelled to do so, but shall pay an equiva- 
lent for personal service. 

Sect. III. Prolhonotaries of the supreme 
court shall be appointed by the said court for 
the term of three years, if they so long behave 
themselves well. Prothonotaries and clerks 



228 THE CONSTITUTION 

of the several other courts, recorders of deeds, 
and registers of wills, ^hall at the times and 
places of election of Representatives, be elect- 
ed by the qualified electors of each county, or 
the districts over which the jurisdiction of 
said courts extends, and shall be commissioned 
by the Governor. They shall hold their offices 
for three years, if they shall so long behave 
themselves well, and until their successors 
shall be duly qualified. The Legislature shall 
provide by law the number of persons in each 
county who shall hold said offices, and how 
many and which of said offices shall be held 
by one person. Vacancies in any one of the 
said offices shall be filled by appointments to 
be made by the Governor, to continue until 
the next general election, and until successors 
shall be elected and qualified as aforesaid. 

Sect. IV. Prothonotaries, clerks of the peace 
and orphans' court, recorders of deeds, regis- 
ters of wills, and sheriffs, shall keep their of- 
fices in the county town of the county in which 
they, respectively, shall be officers, unless 
when the Governor shall, for special reasons, 
dispense therewith, for any term not exceeding 
five years after the county shall have been 
erected. 

Sect. V. All commissions shall be in the 
name and by the authority of the Commoft- 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. 229 

wealth of Pennsylvania, and be sealed with 
the State seal, and signed by the Governor. 

Sect. VL A State Treasurer shall be elect- 
ed annually, by joint vote of both branches of 
the Legislature. 

Sect. VII. Justices of the peace or alder- 
men shall be elected in the several wards, 
boroughs and townships, at the time of the 
election of constables by the qualified voters 
thereof, in such manner as shall be directed by 
law, and shall be commissioned by the Gover- 
nor for a term of five years. But no township, 
ward or borough shall elect more than two 
justices of the peace or aldermen without the 
consent of a majority of the qualified electors 
within such township, ward or borough. 

Sect. VIII. All officers whose election or 
appointment is not provided for in this Con- 
stitution, shall be elected or appointed as shall 
be directed by law. No person shall be ap- 
pointed to any office within any county who 
shall not have been a citizen and an inhabi- 
tant therein one year next before his appoint- 
ment, if the county shall have been so long 
erected; but if it shall not have been so long 
erected, then within the limits of the county 
or counties out of which it shall have been 
taken. No member of Congress from this 
State, or any person holding or exercising anv 

20 



230 THE CONSTITUTION 

office or appointment of trust or profit under 
the United States, shall at the same time hold 
or exercise any office in this State, to which 
a salary is, or fees or perquisites are by law, 
annexed; and the Legislature may by law de- 
clare what state offices are incompatible. No 
member of the Senate or of the House of 
Representatives shall be appointed by the 
Governor to any office during the term for 
which he shall have been elected. 

Sect. IX. All officers for a term of years 
shall hold their offices for the terms respec- 
tively specified, only on the condition that they 
so long behave themselves well; and shall be 
removed on conviction of misbehaviour in of- 
fice or of any infamous crime. 

Sect. X. Any person who shall, after the 
adoption of the amendments proposed by this 
Convention to the Constitution, fight a duel, 
or send a challenge for that purpose, or be 
aider or abettor in fighting a duel, shall be 
deprived of the right of holding any office of 
honour or profit in this State, and shall be 
punished otherwise in such manner as is, or 
may be prescribed by law; but the executive 
may remit the said offence and all its disquali- 
fications. 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. 231 



ARTICLE VII. 



Sect. I. The Legislature shall, as soon as 
conveniently may be, provide, by law, for the 
establishment of schools throughout the State, 
in such manner that the poor may be taught 
gratis. 

Sect. II. The arts and sciences shall be pro- 
moted in one or more seminaries of learning. 

Sect. III. The rights, privileges, immuni- 
ties and estates of religious societies and cor- 
porate bodies, shall remain as if the Constitu- 
tion of this State had not been altered or amend- 
ed. 

Sect. IV. The Legislature shall not invest 
any corporate body or individual with the 
privilege of taking private property for pub- 
lic use, without requiring such corporation or 
individual to make compensation to the owners 
of said property, or give adequate security 
therefor, before such property shall be taken. 

ARTICLE VIIL 

Members of the General Assembly and all 
officers, executive and judicial, shall be bound 
by oath or affirmation to support the Consti- 
tution of this Commonwealth, and to perform 



232 THE CONSTITUTION 

the duties of their respective offices with fideli- 

ARTICLE IX. 

That the general, great and essential prin- 
ciples of liberty and free government may be 
recognised and unalterably established, WE 
DECLARE, 

Sect. I. That all men are born equally free 
and independent and have certain inherent 
and indefeasible rights, among which are those 
of enjoying and defending life and liberty, of 
acquiring, possessing and protecting property 
and reputation, and of pursuing their own hap- 
piness. 

Sect. II. That all power is inherent in the 
people, and all free governments are founded 
on their authority, and instituted for their 
peace, safety, and happiness: For the advance- 
ment of those ends, they have, at all times, an 
unalienable and indefeasible right to alter, re- 
form, or aboUsh their government, in such 
manner as they may think proper. 

Sect. III. That all men have a natural and 
indefeasible right to worship Almighty God ac- 
cording to the dictates of their own conscien- 
ces; that no man can, of right, be compelled 
to attend, erect, or support any place of wor- 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. 233 

ship, or to maintain any ministry against his 
consent; that no human authority can, in any 
case whatever, control or interfere with the 
rights of conscience ; and that no preference 
shall ever be given, by law, to any religious 
establishments or modes of worship. 

Sect. IV. That no person who acknowled- 
ges the being of a God and a future state of 
rewards and punishments, shall, on account of 
his religious sentiments, be disqualified to hold 
any office or place of trust or profit under this 
Commonwealth. 

Sect. V. That elections shall be free and 
equal. 

Sect. VI. That trial by jury shall be as 
heretofore, and the right thereof remain invio- 
late. 

Sect. VII. That the printing presses shall 
be free to every person, who undertakes to 
examine the proceedings of the Legislature or 
any branch of government: and no law shall 
ever be made to restrain the right thereof. — 
The free communication of thoughts and opin- 
ions is one of the invaluable rights of man; and 
every citizen may freely speak, write and 
print on any subject, being responsible for the 
abuse of that liberty. In prosecutions for the 
publication of papers investigating the official 
conduct of officers, or men in a public capacity, 

20* 



234 THE CONSTITUTION 

or where the matter published is proper for 
public information, the truth thereof may be 
given in evidence; and, in all indictments for li- 
bels, the jury shall have a right to determine 
the law, and the facts, under the direction of 
the court, as in other cases. 

Sect. VIII. That the people shall be secure 
in their persons, houses, papers and possessions, 
from unreasonable searches and seizures; and 
that no warrant to search any place, or to 
seize any person or things, shall issue without 
describing them as nearly as may be, nor with- 
out probable cause, supported by oath or af- 
firmation. 

Sect. IX. That in all criminal prosecutions, 
the accused hath a right to be heard by him- 
self and his counsel, to demand the nature and 
cause of the accusation against him, to meet 
the witnesses face to face, to have compulsory 
process for obtaining witnesses in his favour, 
and in prosecutions by indictment or infor- 
mation, a speedy trial by an impartial jury of 
the vicinage: That he cannot be compelled to 
give evidence against himself, nor can he be 
deprived of his life, hberty or property, unless 
by the judgment of his peers or the law of the 
land. 

Sect. X. That no person shall, for any in- 
dictable offence, be proceeded against crimi- 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. 235 

nally by information; except in cases arising 
in the land or naval forces, or in the militia 
when in actual service in time of war or pub- 
lic danger; or by leave of the court for oppres- 
sion and misdemeanor in office. No person 
shall for the same offence be twice put in jeo- 
pardy of life or limb; nor shall any man's pro- 
perty be taken, or applied to public use, with- 
out the consent of his representatives, and 
without just compensation being made. 

Sect. XL That all courts shall be open, 
and every man for an injury done him in his 
lands, goods, person or reputation, shall have 
remedy by the due course of law, and right 
and justice administered without sale, denial 
or delay. Suits may be brought against the 
Commonwealth in such manner, in such courts, 
and in such cases, as the Legislature may, by 
law, direct. 

Sect. XIL That no power of suspending 
laws shall be exercised, unless by the Legisla- 
ture, or its authority. 

Sect. XIIL That excessive bail shall not 
be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor 
cruel punishments inflicted. 

Sect. XIV. That all prisoners shall be baila- 
ble by sufficient sureties, unless for capital of- 
fences, when the proof is evident or presump- 
tion great: and the privilege of the writ of ha- 
beas corpus shall not be suspended, unless 



236 THE CONSTITUTION 

when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the 
public safety may require it. 

Sect. XV. That no commission of oyer and 
terminer or jail delivery shall be issued. 

Sect. XVL That the person of a debtor, 
where there is not strong presumption of fraud, 
shall not be continued in prison after deliver- 
ing up his estate for the benefit of his credi- 
tors in such manner as shall be prescribed by 
law. 

Sect. XVII. That no ex post facto law, 
nor any law impairing contracts, shall be 
made. 

Sect. XVIII. That no person shall be at- 
tainted of treason or felony by the Legislature. 

Sect. XIX. That no attainder shall work 
corruption of blood ; nor, except during the 
life of the offender, forfeiture of estate to the 
Commonwealth: that the estates of such per- 
sons as shall destroy their own lives, shall de- 
scend or vest as in case of natural death ; and 
if any person shall be killed by casualty, 
there shall be no forfeiture by reason thereof. 

Sect. XX. That the citizens have a right, 
in a peaceable manner, to assemble together 
for their common good, and to apply to those 
invested with the powers of government for 
redress of grievances, or other proper pur- 
poses, by petition, redress, or remonstrance. 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. 237 

Sect. XXI. That the right of the citizens 
to bear arms, in defence of themselves and 
the State, shall not be questioned. 

Sect. XXII. That no standing army shall, 
in time of peace, be kept up, without the 
consent of the Legislature; and the military 
shall, in all cases, and at all times, be in strict 
subordination to the civil power. 

Sect. XXIII. That no soldier shall, in time 
of peace, be quartered in any house, without 
the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, 
but in a manner to be prescribed by law. 

Sect. XXIV. That the Legislature shall 
not grant any title of nobility or hereditary 
distinction, nor create any office the appoint- 
ment to which shall be for a longer term than 
during good behaviour. 

Sect. XXV. That emigration from the 
State shall not be prohibited. 

Sect. XXVI. To guard against transgres- 
sions of the high powers which we have dele- 
gated, WE DECLARE, that every thing in 
this article is excepted out of the general 
powers of government, and shall for ever re- 
main inviolate. 

ARTICLE X. 

Any amendment or amendments to this Con- 



238 THE CONSTITUTION 

stitution may be proposed in the Senate or 
House of Representatives, and if the same 
shall be agreed to by a majority of the mem- 
bers elected to each House, such proposed 
amendment or amendments shall be entered 
on their Journals, with the yeas and nays 
taken thereon, and the Secretary of the Com- 
monwealth shall cause the same to be publish- 
ed three months before the next election, in 
at least one newspaper in every county in 
which a newspaper shall be published; and if 
in the Legislature next afterwards chosen, 
such proposed amendment or amendments 
shall be agreed to by a majority of the mem- 
bers elected to each House, the Secretary of 
the Commonwealth shall cause the same again 
to be published in manner aforesaid, and such 
proposed amendment or amendments shall be 
submitted to the people in such manner and 
at such time, at least three months after being 
so agreed to by the two Houses, as the Legis • 
lature shall prescribe; and if the people shall 
approve and ratify such amendment or amend- 
ments by a majority of the quahfied voters of 
this State voting thereon, such amendment or 
amendments shall become a part of the Con- 
stitution, but no amendment or amendments 
shall be submitted to the people oftener than 
once in five years: Provided^ that if more than 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. 239 

one amendment be submitted, they shall be 
submitted in such manner and form, that the 
people may vote for or against each amend- 
ment separately and distinctly. 

In testimony that the foregoing is the amend- 
ed Constitution of Pennsylvania, as agreed 
to in Convention, We, the Officers and Mem- 
bers of the Convention, have hereunto 
signed our names, at Philadelphia, the twen- 
ty-second day of February, Anno Domi- 
ni one thousand eight hundred and thirty- 
eight, and of the Independence of the Uni- 
ted States of America the sixty-second. 
JOHN SERGEANT, President. 

(Attest) S. Shock, Secretary. 

ImZL!'""' \ ^^^^^tant Secretaries. 



op 



LBM-'M 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





014 311 194 5 



